The paper presents the results of the system research on the coordinated development of nuclear and fusion power engineering in the current century. Considering the increasing problems of resource procurement, including limited natural uranium resources, it seems reasonable to use fusion reactors as high-power neutron sources for production of nuclear fuel in a blanket. It is shown that the share of fusion sources in this structural configuration of the energy system can be relatively small. A fundamentally important aspect of this solution to the problem of closure of the fuelcycle is that recycling of highly active spent fuel can be abandoned. Radioactivity released during the recycling of the spent fuel from the hybrid reactor blanket is at least two orders of magnitude lower than during the production of the same number of fissile isotopes after the recycling of the spent fuel from a fast reactor.

Practical implementation of a closed nuclear fuelcycle implies solution of two main tasks. The first task is creation of environmentally acceptable operating conditions of the nuclear fuelcycle considering, first of all, high radioactivity of the involved materials. The second task is creation of effective and economically appropriate conditions of involving fertile isotopes in the fuelcycle. Creation of technologies for management of the high-level radioactivity of spent fuel reliable in terms of radiological protection seems to be the hardest problem.

The radioactive waste classification system currently used in the United States primarily relies on a source-based framework. This has lead to numerous issues, such as wastes that are not categorized by their intrinsic risk, or wastes that do not fall under a category within the framework and therefore are without a legal imperative for responsible management. Furthermore, in the possible case that advanced fuelcycles were to be deployed in the United States, the shortcomings of the source-based classification system would be exacerbated: advanced fuelcycles implement processes such as the separation of used nuclear fuel, which introduce new waste streams of varying characteristics. To be able to manage and dispose of these potential new wastes properly, development of a classification system that would assign appropriate level of management to each type of waste based on its physical properties is imperative. This dissertation explores how characteristics from wastes generated from potential future nuclear fuelcycles could be coupled with a characteristics-based classification framework. A static mass flow model developed under the Department of Energy's FuelCycle Research & Development program, called the Fuel-cycle Integration and Tradeoffs (FIT) model, was used to calculate the composition of waste streams resulting from different nuclear fuelcycle choices: two modified open fuelcycle cases (recycle in MOX reactor) and two different continuous-recycle fast reactor recycle cases (oxide and metal fuel fast reactors). This analysis focuses on the impact of waste heat load on waste classification practices, although future work could involve coupling waste heat load with metrics of radiotoxicity and longevity. The value of separation of heat-generating fission products and actinides in different fuelcycles and how it could inform long- and short-term disposal management is discussed. It is shown that the benefits of reducing the short-term fission

Part 1: The characteristics if the radioactive wastes coming from the DUPIC fuel manufacturing process were analyzed and evaluated. The gross {alpha}-activity and {alpha}-, {gamma}-spectrum of irradiated zircaloy specimens form KORI unit 1 were analyzed. In order to develop the trapping media of radioactive ruthenium oxides, trapping behavior of volatilized ruthenium oxides on various metal oxides or carbonates was analyzed. Fly ash was selected as a trapping materials for gaseous cesium. And reaction characteristics of CsNO{sub 3} and CsI with fly ash have been investigated. Also, trapping material were performed to test fly ash filter for removal of gaseous cesium under the air and hydrogen atmosphere. The applicability of fly ash to the vitrification of the spent filter was analyzed in the aspects of predictability, leachability. Good quality of Borosilicate glass was formed using Cesium spent filter. Offgas treatment system of DUPIC fuel manufacturing facility was designed and constructed in order to trap of gaseous radioactive waste from 100 batch of OREOXA furnace (the capacity : 500 g/batch). Part II: To develop chemical analysis techniques necessary for understanding chemical properties of the highly radioactive materials related to the development of DUPIC fuelcycle technology, the following basic studies were performed : dissolution of SIMFUEL (simulated fuel), determination of uranium by potentiometry and UV/Vis absorption spectrophotometry, separation of PWR spent fuel, group separation of fission products from uranium, individual separation for analysis of actinides, determination of free acid in a artificial dissolved solution of PWR spent fuel, group separation of fission products form uranium, individual separation of Sm from a mixed rare earth elements and measurement of its isotopes by TI-mass spectrometry, and characteristics of detectors in inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) suitable for analysis of trace fission

Worldwide activities related to nuclear fuelcycle and radioactive waste management programs are summarized. Several trends have developed in waste management strategy: All countries having to dispose of reprocessing wastes plan on conversion of the high-level waste (HLW) stream to a borosilicate glass and eventual emplacement of the glass logs, suitably packaged, in a deep geologic repository. Countries that must deal with plutonium-contaminated waste emphasize pluonium recovery, volume reduction and fixation in cement or bitumen in their treatment plans and expect to use deep geologic repositories for final disposal. Commercially available, classical engineering processing are being used worldwide to treat and immobilize low- and intermediate-level wastes (LLW, ILW); disposal to surface structures, shallow-land burial and deep-underground repositories, such as played-out mines, is being done widely with no obvious technical problems. Many countries have established extensive programs to prepare for construction and operation of geologic repositories. Geologic media being studied fall into three main classes: argillites (clay or shale); crystalline rock (granite, basalt, gneiss or gabbro); and evaporates (salt formations). Most nations plan to allow 30 years or longer between discharge of fuel from the reactor and emplacement of HLW or spent fuel is a repository to permit thermal and radioactive decay. Most repository designs are based on the mined-gallery concept, placing waste or spent fuel packages into shallow holes in the floor of the gallery. Many countries have established extensive and costly programs of site evaluation, repository development and safety assessment. Two other waste management problems are the subject of major R and D programs in several countries: stabilization of uranium mill tailing piles; and immobilization or disposal of contaminated nuclear facilities, namely reactors, fuelcycle plants and R and D laboratories.

Alternatives were compared for collection and fixation of radioactive waste gases released during normal operation of the nuclear fuelcycle, and for transportation and storage/disposal of the resulting waste forms. The study used a numerical rating scheme to evaluate and compare the alternatives for krypton-85, iodine-129, and carbon-14; whereas a subjective evaluation, based on published reports and engineering judgement, was made for transportation and storage/disposal options. Based on these evaluations, certain alternatives are recommended for an integrated scheme for waste management of each of the subject waste gases. Phase II of this project, which is concerned with the development of performance criteria for the waste forms associated with the subject gases, will be completed by the end of 1980. This work will be documented as Volume II of this report.

The proper classification of radioactive waste is the basis upon which to define its disposal method. In view of differences between waste containing artificial radionuclides and waste with naturally occurring radionuclides, the scientific definition of the properties of waste arising from the front end of the uranium fuelcycle (UF Waste) is the key to dispose of such waste. This paper is intended to introduce briefly the policy and practice to dispose of such waste in China and some foreign countries, explore how to solve the dilemma facing such waste, analyze in detail the compositions and properties of such waste, and finally put forward a new concept of classifying such waste as waste with naturally occurring radionuclides.

This report is intended to establish their needs to support the dry decontamination activities applicable to highly radioactive contaminants based on the requirement of technologies development suggested from the national nuclear fuelcycle projects, such as DUPIC, advanced spent fuel management and long-lived radionuclides conversion. The technology needs associated with decontamination addressed the requirements associated with the efficiency of decontamination technology, the reduction of secondary wastes, applicabilities and the remote operation. And also, Characterization and decontamination technologies for various contaminants are reviewed and analysed. Based on the assessment, Unit dry decontamination processes are selected and the schematic flow diagram for decontamination of highly radioactive contaminants.

The development of high efficiency filter was started to protect human beings from the contamination of radioactive particles, toxic gases and bacillus, and its gradual performance increment led to the fabrication of Ultra Low Penetration Air Filter (ULPA) today. The application field of ULPA has been spread not only to the air conditioning of nuclear power facilities, semiconductor industries, life science, optics, medical care and general facilities but also to the core of ultra-precision facilities. Periodic performance test on the filters is essential to extend its life-time through effective maintenance. Especially, the bank test on HEPA filter of nuclear facilities handling radioactive materials is required for environmental safety. Nowadays, the bank test technology has been reached to the utilization of a minimized portable detecting instruments and the evaluation techniques can provide high confidence in the area of particle distribution and leakage test efficiency. (author). 16 refs., 13 tabs., 14 figs.

Potential accidents for 15 types of fuelcycle and other radioactive material licensees were analyzed. The most potentially hazardous accident, by a large margin, was determined to be the sudden rupture of a heated multi-ton cylinder of UF/sub 6/. Acute fatalities offsite are probably not credible. Acute permanent injuries may be possible for many hundreds of meters, and clinically observable transient effects of unknown long term consequences may be possible for distances up to a few miles. These effects would be caused by the chemical toxicity of the UF/sub 6/. Radiation doses would not be significant. The most potentially hazardous accident due to radiation exposure was determined to be a large fire at certain facilities handling large quantities of alpha-emitting radionuclides (i.e., Po-210, Pu-238, Pu-239, Am-241, Cm-242, Cm-244) or radioiodines (I-125 and I-131). However, acute fatalities or injuries to people offsite due to accidental releases of these materials do not seem plausible. The only other significant accident was identified as a long-term pulsating criticality at fuelcycle facilities handling high-enriched uranium or plutonium. An important feature of the most serious accidents is that releases are likely to start without prior warning. The releases would usually end within about half an hour. Thus protective actions would have to be taken quickly to be effective. There is not likely to be enough time for dose projections, complicated decisionmaking during the accident, or the participation of personnel not in the immediate vicinity of the site. The appropriate response by the facility is to immediately notify local fire, police, and other emergency personnel and give them a brief predetermined message recommending protective actions. Emergency personnel are generally well qualified to respond effectively to small accidents of these types.

A preliminary study on the quantitative effect of the partition and transmutation on the permanent disposal of HLW, which means the spent fuel in view of current Korean situation, was carried out. Two approaches in quantitative way are considered to be available for evaluating the deterministic influence of P and T strategy on the long-term disposal of this HLW are assessments of waste toxicity indices (TIs) and the repository performance assessments (PAs). TI is measures of the intrinsic radiotoxicity of the wastes and does not incorporate any detailed consideration of the feature, event and processes (FEPs) which might be lead to the release of the nuclides from the waste disposed of in the repository and the transport to and through the biosphere. Whereas, PA, which treated as main topic of present study, does include consideration of such FEPs even though it could not fully comprehensive at the current stage of R andD on geological disposal. Through the study, after reviewing the PA approaches which considered by some countries, relative advantages in case P and T will be performed before disposal over direct permanent disposal. Even though P and T could be an ideal solution to reduce the inventory which eventually decreases the release time as well as the peaks in the annual dose and even minimize the repository area through the proper handling of nuclides whose decay heat is significant and further produce the electricity, it should overcome the such major disadvantages as problems technically exposed during developing and improving the P and T system, economic point of view, and public acceptance in view of environment-friendly issues. In this regard some relevant issues are also discussed to show the direction for further studies.

A cost/benefit study was made to determine the cost and effectiveness of radioactive waste (radwaste) treatment systems for decreasing the release of radioactive materials from a model nuclear fuel reprocessing plant which processes light-water reactor (LWR) fuels, and to determine the radiological impact (dose commitment) of the released materials on the environment. The study is designed to assist in defining the term as low as reasonably achievable in relation to limiting the release of radioactive materials from nuclear facilities. The base case model plant is representative of current plant technology and has an annual capacity of 1500 metric tons of LWR fuel. Additional radwaste treatment systems are added to the base case plant in a series of case studies to decrease the amounts of radioactive materials released and to reduce the radiological dose commitment to the population in the surrounding area. The cost for the added waste treatment operations and the corresponding dose commitments are calculated for each case. In the final analysis, radiological dose is plotted vs the annual cost for treatment of the radwastes. The status of the radwaste treatment methods used in the case studies is discussed. Much of the technology used in the advanced cases is in an early stage of development and is not suitable for immediate use. The methodology used in estimating the costs, and the radiological doses, detailed calculations, and tabulations are presented in Appendix A and ORNL-4992. This report is a revision of the original study (ORNL/TM-4901).

The status of fuel and fuelcycle technology for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) is reviewed. The all-ceramic core of the HTGRs permits high temperatures compared with other reactors. Core outlet temperatures of 740/sup 0/C are now available for the steam cycle. For advanced HTGRs such as are required for direct-cycle power generation and for high-temperature process heat, coolant temperatures as high as 1000/sup 0/C may be expected. The paper discusses the variations of HTGR fuel designs that meet the performance requirements and the requirements of the isotopes to be used in the fuelcycle. Also discussed are the fuelcycle possibilities, which include the low-enrichment cycle, the Th-/sup 233/U cycle, and plutonium utilization in either cycle. The status of fuel and fuelcycle development is summarized.

A high-level study was performed in Fiscal Year 2009 for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) Advanced FuelCycle Initiative (AFCI) to provide information for a range of nuclear fuelcycle options (Wigeland 2009). At that time, some fuelcycle options could not be adequately evaluated since they were not well defined and lacked sufficient information. As a result, five families of these fuelcycle options are being studied during Fiscal Year 2010 by the Systems Analysis Campaign for the DOE NE FuelCycle Research and Development (FCRD) program. The quality and completeness of data available to date for the fuelcycle options is insufficient to perform quantitative radioactive waste analyses using recommended metrics. This study has been limited thus far to qualitative analyses of waste streams from the candidate fuelcycle options, because quantitative data for wastes from the front end, fuel fabrication, reactor core structure, and used fuel for these options is generally not yet available.

After a short introduction about nuclear power in the world, fission physics and the French nuclear power plants, this brochure describes in a digest way the different steps of the nuclear fuelcycle: uranium prospecting, mining activity, processing of uranium ores and production of uranium concentrates (yellow cake), uranium chemistry (conversion of the yellow cake into uranium hexafluoride), fabrication of nuclear fuels, use of fuels, reprocessing of spent fuels (uranium, plutonium and fission products), recycling of energetic materials, and storage of radioactive wastes. (J.S.)

Full Text Available The first part of this paper describes the nuclear fuelcycle. It is divided into three parts. The first part, called Front-End, covers all activities connected with fuel procurement and fabrication. The middle part of the cycle includes fuel reload design activities and the operation of the fuel in the reactor. Back-End comprises all activities ensuring safe separation of spent fuel and radioactive waste from the environment. The individual stages of the fuelcycle are strongly interrelated. Overall economic optimization is very difficult. Generally, NPV is used for an economic evaluation in the nuclear fuelcycle. However the high volatility of uranium prices in the Front-End, and the large uncertainty of both economic and technical parameters in the Back-End, make the use of NPV difficult. The real option method is able to evaluate the value added by flexibility of decision making by a company under conditions of uncertainty. The possibility of applying this method to the nuclear fuelcycle evaluation is studied.

A cost/benefit study was made to determine the cost and effectiveness of various radioactive waste (radwaste) treatment systems for decreasing the release of radioactive materials from model High-Temperature Gas-Cooled (HTGR) fuel fabrication plants and to determine the radiological impact (dose commitment) of the released materials on the environment. The study is designed to assist in defining the term ''as low as reasonably achievable'' as it applies to these nuclear facilities. The base cases of the two model plants, a fresh fuel fabrication plant and a refabrication plant, are representative of current proposed commercial designs or are based on technology that is being developed to fabricate uranium, thorium, and graphite into fuel elements. The annual capacities of the fresh fuel plant and the refabrication plant are 450 and 245 metric tons of heavy metal (where heavy metal is uranium plus thorium), as charged to about fifty 1000-MW(e) HTGRs. Additional radwaste treatment systems are added to the base case plants in a series of case studies to decrease the amounts of radioactive materials released and to reduce the radiological dose commitment to the population in the surrounding area. The capital and annual costs for the added waste treatment operations and the corresponding reductions in dose commitments are calculated for each case. In the final analysis, the cost/benefit of each case, calculated as additional cost of radwaste system divided by the reduction in dose commitment, is tabulated or the dose commitment is plotted with cost as the variable. The status of each of the radwaste treatment methods is discussed. 48 figures, 74 tables.

The West Valley Plant could readily be used for work on reprocessing of alternative fuels, spiking, coprocessing (including CIVEX), waste solidification, and the recovery of radioactive gases. The plant could be easily modified for any scale between small-scale experimental work to production-scale demonstration, involving virtually any combination of fissile/fertile fuel materials that might be used in the future. The use of this plant for the contemplated experimental work would involve lower capital costs than the use of other facilities at DOE sites, except possibly for spiking of recovered products; the operating costs would be no greater than at other sites. The work on reprocessing of alternative fuels and coprocessing could commence within about one year; on recovery of radioactive gases, in 3 to 5 years; on spiking, in 4 years; and on waste solidification demonstration, in about 5 years. The contemplated work could be begun at this plant at least as early as at Barnwell, although work on spiking of recovered products could probably be started in existing hot cells earlier than at West Valley. (DLC)

For educational purposes it is highly desirable to provide simple yet realistic models for fuelcycle and fuel economy. In particular, a lumped model without recourse to detailed spatial calculations would be very helpful in providing the student with a proper understanding of the purposes of fuelcycle calculations. A teaching model for fuelcycle studies based on a lumped model assuming the summability of partial reactivities with a linear dependence of reactivity usefully illustrates fuel utilization concepts. The linear burnup model does not satisfactorily represent natural enrichment reactors. A better model, showing the trend of initial plutonium production before subsequent fuel burnup and fission product generation, is a quadratic fit. The study of M-batch cycles, reloading 1/Mth of the core at end of cycle, is now complicated by nonlinear equations. A complete account of the asymptotic cycle for any order of M-batch refueling can be given and compared with the linear model. A complete account of the transient cycle can be obtained readily in the two-batch model and this exact solution would be useful in verifying numerical marching models. It is convenient to treat the parabolic fit rho = 1 - tau/sup 2/ as a special case of the general quadratic fit rho = 1 - C/sub tau/ - (1 - C)tau/sup 2/ in suitably normalized reactivity and cycle time units. The parabolic results are given in this paper.

The issues of dual use in nuclear technology are analysed for nuclear fuelcycle with special focus on uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing which are considered as the most sensitive components in terms of vulnerability to diversion. Technical alternatives to mitigrate the vulnerability, as has been analysed in depth during the NASAP and INFCE era in the late seventies, are reviewed to characterize the DUPIC fuelcycle alternative. On the other hand, the new realities in nuclear energy including the disposition of weapon materials as a legacy of cold war are recast in an angle of nuclear proliferation resistance and safeguards with a discussion on the concept of spent fuel standard concept and its compliance with the DUPIC fuelcycle technology. (author)

A cost/benefit study was made to determine the cost and effectiveness of various radioactive waste (radwaste) treatment systems for decreasing the release of radioactive materials from a model high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) fuel reprocessing plant and to determine the radiological impact (dose commitment) of the released materials on the environment. The study is designed to assist the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in defining the term as low as reasonably achievable as it applies to this nuclear facility. The base case is representative of conceptual, developing technology of head-end graphite-burning operations and of extensions of solvent-extraction technology of current designs for light-water-reactor (LWR) fuel reprocessing plants. The model plant has an annual capacity of 450 metric tons of heavy metal (MTHM, where heavy metal is uranium plus thorium), as charged to about fifty 1000-MW(e) HTGRs. Additional radwaste treatment systems are added to the base-case plant in a series of case studies to decrease the amounts of radioactive materials released and to reduce the radiological dose commitment to the population in the surrounding area. The capital and annual costs for the added waste treatment operations and the corresponding reductions in dose commitments are calculated for each case. In the final analysis, the cost/benefit of each case, calculated as additional cost of radwaste system divided by the reduction in dose commitment, is tabulated or the dose commitment is plotted with cost as the variable. The status of each of the radwaste treatment methods used in the case studies is discussed.

In nuclear fuel reprocessing, various radioactive elements enter the gas phase from the unit operations found in the reprocessing facility. In previous reports, the pathways and required removal were discussed for four radionuclides known to be volatile, 14C, 3H, 129I, and 85Kr. Other, less volatile isotopes can also report to the off-gas streams in a reprocessing facility. These were reported to be isotopes of Cs, Cd, Ru, Sb, Tc, and Te. In this report, an effort is made to determine which, if any, of 24 semivolatile radionuclides could be released from a reprocessing plant and, if so, what would be the likely quantities released. As part of this study of semivolatile elements, the amount of each generated during fission is included as part of the assessment for the need to control their emission. Also included in this study is the assessment of the cooling time (time out of reactor) before the fuel is processed. This aspect is important for the short-lived isotopes shown in the list, especially for cooling times approaching 10 y. The approach taken in this study was to determine if semivolatile radionuclides need to be included in a list of gas-phase radionuclides that might need to be removed to meet Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations. A list of possible elements was developed through a literature search and through knowledge and literature on the chemical processes in typical aqueous processing of nuclear fuels. A long list of possible radionuclides present in irradiated fuel was generated and then trimmed by considering isotope half-life and calculating the dose from each to a maximum exposed individual with the US EPA airborne radiological dispersion and risk assessment code CAP88 (Rosnick 1992) to yield a short list of elements that actually need to be considered for control because they require high decontamination factors to meet a reasonable fraction of the regulated release. Each of these elements is

This essay presents elements of the processes used in the fuelcycle steps and gives an indication of the types of equipment used. The amounts of radioactivity released in normal operation of the processes are indicated and related to radiation doses. Types and costs of equipment or processes required to lower these radioactivity releases are in some cases suggested. Mining and milling, conversion of uranium concentrate to UF/sub 6/, uranium isotope separation, LWR fuel fabrication, fuel reprocessing, transportation, and waste management are covered in this essay. 40 figures, 34 tables. (DLC)

The Advanced FuelCycle Initiative is developing a system dynamics model as part of their broad systems analysis of future nuclear energy in the United States. The model will be used to analyze and compare various proposed technology deployment scenarios. The model will also give a better understanding of the linkages between the various components of the nuclear fuelcycle that includes uranium resources, reactor number and mix, nuclear fuel type and waste management. Each of these components is tightly connected to the nuclear fuelcycle but usually analyzed in isolation of the other parts. This model will attempt to bridge these components into a single model for analysis. This work is part of a multi-national laboratory effort between Argonne National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory and United States Department of Energy. This paper summarizes the basics of the system dynamics model and looks at some results from the model.

A cost/benefit study was made to determine the cost and effectiveness of various radioactive waste (radwaste) treatment systems for decreasing the amount of radioactive materials released from a model recycle uranium conversion and uranium hexafluoride (UF/sub 6/) production plant and to determine the radiological impact (dose commitment) of the released radioactive materials on the environment. This study is designed to assist the US NRC in defining the term ''as low as reasonably achievable'' as it applies to these nuclear facilities. The base case model plant is representative of a licensable UF/sub 6/ production plant and has an annual capacity of 1500 metric tons of uranium. Additional radwaste treatment systems are added to the base case plant in a series of case studies to decrease the amounts of radioactive materials released and to reduce the radiological dose commitment to the population in the surrounding area. The cost for the added waste treatment operations and the corresponding dose commitments is calculated for each case. In the final analysis, radiological dose is plotted vs the annual cost for treatment of the radwastes. The status of the radwaste treatment methods used in the case studies is discussed. The methodology used in estimating the costs is presented. (34 tables, 11 figs.)

The nuclear fuelcycle includes all processes and operations from the mining of uranium to the management of radioactive waste generated. These processes include the manufacture of nuclear fuel, the operation of the plants and the storage of radioactive waste in the corresponding temporary stores. (Author)

The rationale for hybrid fusion-fission reactors is the production of fissile fuel for fission reactors. A new class of reactor, the fission-suppressed hybrid promises unusually good safety features as well as the ability to support 25 light-water reactors of the same nuclear power rating, or even more high-conversion-ratio reactors such as the heavy-water type. One 4000-MW nuclear hybrid can produce 7200 kg of /sup 233/U per year. To obtain good economics, injector efficiency times plasma gain (eta/sub i/Q) should be greater than 2, the wall load should be greater than 1 MW.m/sup -2/, and the hybrid should cost less than 6 times the cost of a light-water reactor. Introduction rates for the fission-suppressed hybrid are usually rapid.

The nuclear fuelcycle is a complex entity, with many stages and possibilities, encompassing natural resources, energy, science, commerce, and security, involving a host of nations around the world. This overview describes the process for generating nuclear power using fissionable nuclei.

The purpose of this Handbook is to provide guidance on how to calculate the characteristics of releases of radioactive materials and/or hazardous chemicals from nonreactor nuclear facilities. In addition, the Handbook provides guidance on how to calculate the consequences of those releases. There are four major chapters: Hazard Evaluation and Scenario Development; Source Term Determination; Transport Within Containment/Confinement; and Atmospheric Dispersion and Consequences Modeling. These chapters are supported by Appendices, including: a summary of chemical and nuclear information that contains descriptions of various fuelcycle facilities; details on how to calculate the characteristics of source terms for releases of hazardous chemicals; a comparison of NRC, EPA, and OSHA programs that address chemical safety; a summary of the performance of HEPA and other filters; and a discussion of uncertainties. Several sample problems are presented: a free-fall spill of powder, an explosion with radioactive release; a fire with radioactive release; filter failure; hydrogen fluoride release from a tankcar; a uranium hexafluoride cylinder rupture; a liquid spill in a vitrification plant; and a criticality incident. Finally, this Handbook includes a computer model, LPF No.1B, that is intended for use in calculating Leak Path Factors. A list of contributors to the Handbook is presented in Chapter 6. 39 figs., 35 tabs.

fulfill its mission that is to contribute in improving the quality of life of the Brazilian people. The nuclear fuelcycle is a series of steps involved in the production and use of fuel for nuclear reactors. The Laboratories of Chemistry and Environmental Diagnosis Center, CQMA, support the demand of Nuclear FuelCycle Program providing chemical characterization of uranium compounds and other related materials. In this period the Research Reactor Center (CRPq) concentrated efforts on improving equipment and systems to enable the IEA-R1 research reactor to operate at higher power, increasing the capacity of radioisotopes production, samples irradiation, tests and experiments. (author)

Influence of the nuclear energy structure, the conditions of fuel burnup, and accumulation of new fissile isotopes from the raw isotopes on the main parameters of a closed fuelcycle is considered. The effects of the breeding ratio, the cooling time of the spent fuel in the external fuelcycle, and the separation of the breeding area and the fissile isotope burning area on the parameters of the fuelcycle are analyzed.

The nuclear fuelcycle is a very complex system that includes considerable dynamic complexity as well as detail complexity. In the nuclear power realm, there are experts and considerable research and development in nuclear fuel development, separations technology, reactor physics and waste management. What is lacking is an overall understanding of the entire nuclear fuelcycle and how the deployment of new fuelcycle technologies affects the overall performance of the fuelcycle. The Advanced FuelCycle Initiative’s systems analysis group is developing a dynamic simulation model, VISION, to capture the relationships, timing and delays in and among the fuelcycle components to help develop an understanding of how the overall fuelcycle works and can transition as technologies are changed. This paper is an overview of the philosophy and development strategy behind VISION. The paper includes some descriptions of the model and some examples of how to use VISION.

UK experience over the last thirty years with the design and implementation of equipment for the management of spent fuels and radioactive wastes has ranged from remote handling, through encapsulation and containerisation, to the medium-term storage of heat-producing fuels and wastes in the dry state. The design principles involved in handling, transporting and storing hazardous materials safely and reliably, while ensuring biological shielding, containment and cooling of radioactive materials, are common to the various kinds of equipment presented in this paper, even though the individual requirements may be very different. The UK nuclear programme over the last thirty years has encouraged the development of extensive expertise in the engineering of equipment for the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste. This expertise can be applied with benefit to the Korean nuclear programme.

The Integrated Data Base Program has compiled historic data on inventories and characteristics of both commercial and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) spent nuclear fuel and commercial and U.S. government-owned radioactive wastes. Except for transuranic wastes, inventories of these materials are reported as of December 31, 1994. Transuranic waste inventories are reported as of December 31, 1993. All spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste data reported are based on the most reliable information available from government sources, the open literature, technical reports, and direct contacts. The information forecasted is consistent with the latest DOE/Energy Information Administration (EIA) projections of U.S. commercial nuclear power growth and the expected DOE-related and private industrial and institutional activities. The radioactive materials considered, on a chapter-by-chapter basis, are spent nuclear fuel, high-level waste, transuranic waste, low-level waste, commercial uranium mill tailings, DOE Environmental Restoration Program contaminated environmental media, commercial reactor and fuel-cycle facility decommissioning wastes, and mixed (hazardous and radioactive) low-level waste. For most of these categories, current and projected inventories are given through the calendar-year 2030, and the radioactivity and thermal power are calculated based on reported or estimated isotopic compositions.

Since thorium produces relatively small amount of TRU elements after irradiation in the reactor, it is considered one of possible media to mix with the elements to be transmuted. Both solid and molten-salt thorium fuelcycles were investigated. Transmutation concepts being studied involved fast breeder reactor, accelerator-driven subcritical reactor, and energy amplifier with thorium. Long-lived radionuclides, especially TRU elements, could be separated from spent fuel by a pyrochemical process which is evaluated to be proliferation resistance. Pyrochemical processes of IFR, MSRE and ATW were reviewed and evaluated in detail, regarding technological feasibility, compatibility of thorium with TRU, proliferation resistance, their economy and safety. (author). 26 refs., 22 figs

The purpose of the study is to comment on the proliferation characteristic profiles of some of the proposed fuelcycle alternatives to help ensure that nonproliferation concerns are introduced into the early stages of a fuelcycle concept development program, and to perhaps aid in the more effective implementation of the international nonproliferation regime initiative and safeguards systems. Alternative recycle concepts proposed by several countries involve the recycle of spent fuel without the separation of plutonium from uranium and fission products. The concepts are alternatives to either the direct long-term storage deposition of or the purex reprocessing of the spent fuels. The alternate fuelcycle concepts reviewed include: the dry-recycle processes such as the direct use of reconfigured PWR spent fuel assemblies into CANDU reactors(DUPIC); low-decontamination, single-cycle co-extraction of fast reactor fuels in a wet-purex type of reprocessing; and on a limited scale the thorium-uranium fuelcycle. The nonproliferation advantages usually associated with the above non-separation processes are: the highly radioactive spent fuel presents a barrier to the physical diversion of the nuclear material; avoid the need to dissolve and chemically separate the plutonium from the uranium and fission products; and that the spent fuel isotopic quality of the plutonium vector is further degraded. Although the radiation levels and the need for reprocessing may be perceived as barriers to the terrorist or the subnational level of safeguards, the international level of nonproliferation concerns is addressed primarily by material accountancy and verification activities. On the international level of nonproliferation concerns, the non-separation fuelcycle concepts involved have to be evaluated on the bases of the impact the processes may have on nuclear materials accountancy. (author).

To-day nuclear power is one of the options, however, to-morrow it may become the main source of the energy, thus, providing for the stable economic development for the long time to come. The availability of the large-scale nuclear power in the foreseeable future is governed by not only the safe operation of nuclear power plants (NPP) but also by the environmentally safe management of spent nuclear fuel, radioactive waste conditioning and long-term storage. More emphasis is to be placed to the closing of the fuelcycle in view of substantial quantities of spent nuclear fuel arisings. The once-through fuelcycle that is cost effective at the moment cannot be considered to be environmentally safe even for the middle term since the substantial build-up of spent nuclear fuel containing thousands of tons Pu will require the resolution of the safe management problem in the nearest future and is absolutely unjustified in terms of moral ethics as a transfer of the responsibility to future generations. The minimization of radioactive waste arisings and its radioactivity is only feasible with the closed fuelcycle put into practice and some actinides and long-lived fission radionuclides burnt out. The key issues in providing the environmentally safe fuelcycle are efficient processes of producing fuel for NPP, radionuclide after-burning included, a long-term spent nuclear fuel storage and reprocessing as well as radioactive waste management. The paper deals with the problems inherent in producing fuel for NPP with a view for the closed fuelcycle. Also discussed are options of the fuelcycle, its effectiveness and environmental safety with improvements in technologies of spent nuclear fuel reprocessing and long-lived radionuclide partitioning. (authors)

Full Text Available Fuel is essential for development whether for survival and or wealth creation purposes. In this century the utilization of fuels need to be improved although energy mix is still to be the most rational choice. The large amount utilization of un-renewable fossil has some disadvantages since its low energy content requires massive extraction, transport, and processing while emitting CO2 resulting degradation of the environment. In the mean time the advancement of nuclear science and technology has improved significantly the performance of nuclear power plant, management of radioactive waste, enhancement of proliferation resistance, and more economic competitiveness. Ever since the last decade of the last century the nuclear renaissance has taken place. This is also due to the fact that nuclear energy does not emit GHG. Although the nuclear fuel offers a virtually limitless source of economic energy, it is only so if the nuclear fuel is reprocessed and recycled. Consequently, the fuelcycle is to be even more of paramount important in the future. The infrastructure of the fuelcycle services worldwide has been adequately available. Various International Initiatives to access the fuelcycle services are also offered. However, it is required to put in place the International Arrangements to guaranty secured sustainable supply of services and its peaceful use. Relevant international co-operations are central for proceeding with the utilization of nuclear energy, while this advantageous nuclear energy utilization relies on the fuelcycle services. It is therefore concluded that the fuelcycle services are the heart of nuclear energy, and the international nuclear community should work together to maintain the availability of this nuclear fuelcycle services timely, sufficiently, and economically.

This Handbook aims to improve understanding and communication regarding nuclear fuelcycle options. It is intended to assist DOE, Campaign Managers, and other presenters prepare presentations and reports. When looking for information, check here. The Handbook generally includes few details of how calculations were performed, which can be found by consulting references provided to the reader. The Handbook emphasizes results in the form of graphics and diagrams, with only enough text to explain the graphic, to ensure that the messages associated with the graphic is clear, and to explain key assumptions and methods that cause the graphed results. Some of the material is new and is not found in previous reports, for example: (1) Section 3 has system-level mass flow diagrams for 0-tier (once-through), 1-tier (UOX to CR=0.50 fast reactor), and 2-tier (UOX to MOX-Pu to CR=0.50 fast reactor) scenarios - at both static and dynamic equilibrium. (2) To help inform fast reactor transuranic (TRU) conversion ratio and uranium supply behavior, section 5 provides the sustainable fast reactor growth rate as a function of TRU conversion ratio. (3) To help clarify the difference in recycling Pu, NpPu, NpPuAm, and all-TRU, section 5 provides mass fraction, gamma, and neutron emission for those four cases for MOX, heterogeneous LWR IMF (assemblies mixing IMF and UOX pins), and a CR=0.50 fast reactor. There are data for the first 10 LWR recycle passes and equilibrium. (4) Section 6 provides information on the cycle length, planned and unplanned outages, and TRU enrichment as a function of fast reactor TRU conversion ratio, as well as the dilution of TRU feedstock by uranium in making fast reactor fuel. (The recovered uranium is considered to be more pure than recovered TRU.) The latter parameter impacts the required TRU impurity limits specified by the Fuels Campaign. (5) Section 7 provides flows for an 800-tonne UOX separation plant. (6) To complement 'tornado' economic

Nuclear fuelcycles evolved over the past five decades have allowed many nations of the world to enjoy the benefits of nuclear energy, while contributing to the sustainable consumption of the world`s energy resources. The nuclear fuelcycle for energy production suffered many traumas since the 1970s because of perceived risks of proliferation of nuclear weapons. However, the experience of the past five decades has shown that the world community is committed to safeguarding all fissile materials and continuing the use of nuclear energy resources. Decisions of a few nations to discard spent nuclear fuels in geologic formations are contrary to the goals of an enduring nuclear fuelcycle and sustainable development being pursued by the world community. The maintenance of an enduring nuclear fuelcycle is dependent on sensible management of all the resources of the fuelcycle, including spent fuels.

The legacy of radiation exposures confronting man arises from two historical sources of energy, the sun and radioactive decay. Contemporary man continues to be dependent on these two energy sources, which include the nuclear fuelcycle. Radiation exposures from all energy sources should be examined, with particular emphasis on the nuclear fuelcycle, incidents such as Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. In addition to risk estimation, concepts such as de minimis, life shortening as a measure of risk, and competing risks as projected into the future must be considered in placing radiation exposures in perspective. The utility of these concepts is in characterizing population exposures for decision makers in a manner that the public may judge acceptable. All these viewpoints are essential in the evaluation of population exposure from the nuclear fuelcycle.

Full Text Available The nuclear fuelcycle is the series of stages that nuclear fuel materials go through in a cradle to grave framework. The Once Through Cycle (OTC is the current fuelcycle implemented in the United States; in which an appropriate form of the fuel is irradiated through a nuclear reactor only once before it is disposed of as waste. The discharged fuel contains materials that can be suitable for use as fuel. Thus, different types of fuel recycling technologies may be introduced in order to more fully utilize the energy potential of the fuel, or reduce the environmental impacts and proliferation concerns about the discarded fuel materials. Nuclear fuelcycle systems analysis is applied in this paper to attain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of fuelcycle alternatives. Through the use of the nuclear fuelcycle analysis code CAFCA (Code for Advanced FuelCycle Analysis, the impact of a number of recycling technologies and the associated fuelcycle options is explored in the context of the U.S. energy scenario over 100 years. Particular focus is given to the quantification of Uranium utilization, the amount of Transuranic Material (TRU generated and the economics of the different options compared to the base-line case, the OTC option. It is concluded that LWRs and the OTC are likely to dominate the nuclear energy supply system for the period considered due to limitations on availability of TRU to initiate recycling technologies. While the introduction of U-235 initiated fast reactors can accelerate their penetration of the nuclear energy system, their higher capital cost may lead to continued preference for the LWR-OTC cycle.

The response of two radioactive shipping casks due to railroad humping shocks was calculated using a spring-mass model. The two railcars for these casks had different coupling mechanisms and different tiedown arrangements. Humping tests had been performed on one of the railcars (ATMX-600) and the resulting shock spectra was used to adjust the spring-mass model to get matching results. One car (designed for cask shipment) was equipped with Freightmaster E-15 end of car coupler and had about /sup 1///sub 8/ in. free travel of the cask skid relative to the car. The other car (ATMX-600), equipped with Miner RF-333 draft gear, was designed for nuclear weapon shipment and adapted to nuclear waste shipment by fastening the casks to the floor. Both car frames were built by the same manufacturer and are very similar. The response of the casks was put in shock spectra format and a parametric study was performed with various cask weights. Additional studies were done on the effects of fastening the loose cask, and using the Freightmaster end of car coupler on the ATMX car. Half-sine response spectra were overlaid to include the natural frequency of the cask tiedown. The resulting shock amplitude was plotted against the cask weight for each car. The results show a constant acceleration level for all the weights on the car with hydraulic end-of-car coupler which results from constant force at that impact velocity. The cask acceleration can be reduced by fastening it to the car, rather than allowing it to move freely through some small space. This study also shows that the cask response can be optimized on railcars without hydraulic draft gear by adjusting the tiedown stiffness to keep the tiedown frequency different than car frequencies.

Since 1976, the International Program Support Office (IPSO) at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) has collected and compiled publicly available information concerning foreign and international radioactive waste management programs. This National Briefing Summaries is a printout of an electronic database that has been compiled and is maintained by the IPSO staff. The database contains current information concerning the radioactive waste management programs (with supporting information on nuclear power and the nuclear fuelcycle) of most of the nations (except eastern European countries) that now have or are contemplating nuclear power, and of the multinational agencies that are active in radioactive waste management. Information in this document is included for three additional countries (China, Mexico, and USSR) compared to the prior issue. The database and this document were developed in response to needs of the US Department of Energy.

The purpose of this study is to develop methodologies for quantifying environmental and socio-political factors involved with nuclear fuelcycle and finally to evaluate nuclear fuelcycle options with special emphasis given to the factors. Moreover, methodologies for developing practical radiological health risk assessment code system will be developed by which the assessment could be achieved for the recycling and reuse of scrap materials containing residual radioactive contamination. Selected scenarios are direct disposal, DUPIC(Direct use of PWR spent fuel in CANDU), and MOX recycle, land use, radiological effect, and non-radiological effect were chosen for environmental criteria and public acceptance and non-proliferation of nuclear material for socio-political ones. As a result of this study, potential scenarios to be chosen in Korea were selected and methodologies were developed to quantify the environmental and socio-political criteria. 24 refs., 27 tabs., 29 figs. (author)

The purpose of this study is to develop methodologies for quantifying environmental and socio-political factors involved with nuclear fuelcycle and finally to evaluate nuclear fuelcycle options with special emphasis given to the factors. Moreover, methodologies for developing practical radiological health risk assessment code system will be developed by which the assessment could be achieved for the recycling and reuse of scrap materials containing residual radioactive contamination. Selected scenarios are direct disposal, DUPIC(Direct use of PWR spent fuel in CANDU), and MOX recycle, land use, radiological effect, and non-radiological effect were chosen for environmental criteria and public acceptance and non-proliferation of nuclear material for socio-political ones. As a result of this study, potential scenarios to be chosen in Korea were selected and methodologies were developed to quantify the environmental and socio-political criteria. 24 refs., 27 tabs., 29 figs. (author)

The Department of Energy is developing technology, experimental protocols, computational methods, systems analysis software, and many other capabilities in order to advance the nuclear power infrastructure through the Advanced FuelCycle Initiative (AFDI). Our project, is intended to facilitate will-informed decision making for the selection of fuelcycle options and facilities for development.

Nuclear power is an essential component of the world's energy supply. The IFR program, by returning to fundamentals, offers a fresh approach to closing the nuclear fuelcycle. This closed fuelcycle represents the ultimate in efficient resource utilization and environmental accountability. 35 refs., 2 tabs.

This document briefly indicates the different stages of the nuclear fuelcycle, from the purchase of natural uranium to waste storage. It also indicates the main responsibilities of EDF regarding this fuelcycle (to secure supplies, to organise material transportation, to process and store used fuels and associated wastes). It presents the different associated processes: uranium extraction, purification and concentration, conversion or fluoridation, enrichment. It briefly describes the fuel assembly fabrication, and indicates the main uranium producers in the world. Other addressed steps are: the transportation of fuel assembly, fuel loading, and spent fuel management, the processing of spent fuel and radioactive wastes

Nuclear power is currently the second largest power supply method in Korea and the number of nuclear power plants are planned to be increased as well. However, clear management policy for spent fuels generated from nuclear power plants has not yet been established. The back-end fuelcycle, associated with nuclear material flow after nuclear reactors is a collection of technologies designed for the spent fuel management and the spent fuel management policy is closely related with the selection of a nuclear fuelcycle. Cost is an important consideration in selection of a nuclear fuelcycle and should be determined by adding external cost to private cost. Unlike the private cost, which is a direct cost, studies on the external cost are focused on nuclear reactors and not at the nuclear fuelcycle. In this research, external cost indicators applicable to nuclear fuelcycle were derived and quantified. OT (once through), DUPIC (Direct Use of PWR SF in CANDU), PWR-MOX (PWR PUREX reprocessing), and Pyro-SFR (SFR recycling with pyroprocessing) were selected as nuclear fuelcycles which could be considered for estimating external cost in Korea. Energy supply security cost, accident risk cost, and acceptance cost were defined as external cost according to precedent and estimated after analyzing approaches which have been adopted for estimating external costs on nuclear power generation.

As a part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Project, we at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and our National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI) colleagues are investigating nuclear fusion fuelcycle hardware including a nuclear fusion fuel Storage and Delivery System (SDS). To have a better knowledge of the nuclear fusion fuelcycle, we present our research efforts not only on SDS but also on the Fuel Supply System (FS), Tokamak Exhaust Processing System (TEP), Isotope Separation System (ISS), and Detritiation System (DS). To have better knowledge of the nuclear fusion fuelcycle, we presented our research efforts not only on SDS but also on the Fuel Supply System (FS), Tokamak Exhaust Processing System (TEP), Isotope Separation System (ISS), and Detritiation System (DS). Our efforts to enhance the tritium confinement will be continued for the development of cleaner nuclear fusion power plants.

The aim of the Atalante-2000 conference is to present the major research axis concerning the nuclear fuelcycle back-end. The different topics are: - Present options concerning fuelcycle back-end; - Reprocessing of spent fuel; - Advanced separation for transmutation; - Processing and packaging of radioactive wastes; - Design and fabrication of targets for transmutation; and - Conversion of military plutonium into MOX fuels.

Serfontein, Dawid E., E-mail: Dawid.Serfontein@nwu.ac.za [Senior Lecturer at the School of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, North West University (PUK-Campus), PRIVATE BAG X6001, Internal Post Box 360, Potchefstroom 2520 (South Africa); Mulder, Eben J. [Professor at the School of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, North West University (South Africa)

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At current consumption and current prices, the proven reserves for natural uranium will last only about 100 years. However, the more abundant thorium, burned in breeder reactors, such as large High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors, and followed by chemical reprocessing of the spent fuel, could stretch the 100 years for uranium supply to 15,000 years. Thorium-based fuelcycles are also viewed as more proliferation resistant compared to uranium. However, several barriers to entry caused all countries, except India and Russia, to abandon their short term plans for thorium reactor projects, in favour of uranium/plutonium fuelcycles. In this article, based on the theory of resonance integrals and original analysis of fast fission cross sections, the breeding potential of {sup 232}Th is compared to that of {sup 238}U. From a review of the literature, the fuel economy of thorium-based fuelcycles is compared to that of natural uranium-based cycles. This is combined with a technical assessment of the proliferation resistance of thorium-based fuelcycles, based on a review of the literature. Natural uranium is currently so cheap that it contributes only about 10% of the cost of nuclear electricity. Chemical reprocessing is also very expensive. Therefore conservation of natural uranium by means of the introduction of thorium into the fuel is not yet cost effective and will only break even once the price of natural uranium were to increase from the current level of about $70/pound yellow cake to above about $200/pound. However, since fuel costs constitutes only a small fraction of the total cost of nuclear electricity, employing reprocessing in a thorium cycle, for the sake of its strategic benefits, may still be a financially viable option. The most important source of the proliferation resistance of {sup 232}Th/{sup 233}U fuelcycles is denaturisation of the {sup 233}U in the spent fuel by {sup 232}U, for which the highly radioactive decay chain potentially poses a large

Three main features of the globalisation of the nuclear fuelcycle are identified and discussed. The first is an increase in the scale of the nuclear fuelcycle materials and services markets in the past 20 years. This has been accompanied by a growth in the sophistication of the fuelcycle. Secondly, the nuclear industry is now more vulnerable to outside pressures; it is no longer possible to make strategic decisions on the industry within a country solely on national considerations. Thirdly, there are changes in the decision-making process at the political, regulatory, operational and industrial level which are the consequence of global factors. (UK).

As the US Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE contractors have become increasingly involved with other nations in nuclear fuelcycle and waste management cooperative activities, a need has developed for a ready source of information concerning foreign fuelcycle programs, facilities, and personnel. This Fact Book was compiled to meet that need. The information contained in the International Nuclear FuelCycle Fact Book has been obtained from many unclassified sources: nuclear trade journals and newsletters; reports of foreign visits and visitors; CEC, IAEA, and OECN/NEA activities reports; not reflect any one single source but frequently represent a consolidation/combination of information.

This report describes the methodology for determining where environmental control technology is required for the nuclear fuelcycle. The methodology addresses routine emission of chemical and radioactive effluents, and applies to mining, milling, conversion, enrichment, fuel fabrication, reactors (LWR and BWR) and fuel reprocessing. Chemical and radioactive effluents are evaluated independently. Radioactive effluents are evaluated on the basis of maximum exposed individual dose and population dose calculations for a 1-year emission period and a 50-year commitment. Sources of radionuclides for each facility are then listed according to their relative contribution to the total calculated dose. Effluent, ambient and toxicology standards are used to evaluate the effect of chemical effluents. First, each chemical and source configuration is determined. Sources are tagged if they exceed existirrg standards. The combined effect of all chemicals is assessed for each facility. If the additive effects are unacceptable, then additional control technology is recommended. Finally, sources and their chemicals at each facility are ranked according to their relative contribution to the ambient pollution level. This ranking identifies those sources most in need of environmental control.

Bright-lite is a reactor modeling software developed at the University of Texas Austin to expand upon the work done with the Bright [1] reactor modeling software. Originally, bright-lite was designed to function as a standalone reactor modeling software. However, this aim was refocused t couple bright-lite with the Cyclus fuelcycle simulator [2] to make it a module for the fuelcycle simulator.

Modern state of selenium electrochemistry is reviewed in respect of the application of electrochemical methods for the study of the behavior of this element and its quantitative analysis in the solutions of nuclear fuelcycle. The review includes the data on the redox potentials of Se in aqueous solutions, and the data on Se redox reactions, occurring at mercury and solid electrodes. Analysis of the available literature data shows that the inverse stripping voltammetry technique for trace Se concentration and determination seems to be the most promising in application for the Se determination in PUREX solutions and in radioactive wastes. The adaptation of the ISV technique for the trace Se concentration and determination in the solutions of the nuclear fuelcycle is indicated as the most prospective goal of the future experimental study. (author)

This report collects the results of safety research in nuclear fuelcycle at Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation, in order to answer to the Questionnaire of OECD/NEA. The Questionnaire request to include information concerning to research topic, description, main results (if available), reference documents, research institutes involved, sponsoring organization and other pertinent information about followings: a) Recently completed research projects. b) Ongoing (current) research projects. Achievements on following items are omitted by the request of OECD/NEA, uranium mining and milling, uranium refining and conversion to UF{sub 6}, uranium enrichment, fuel manufacturers, spent fuel storage, radioactive waste management, transport of radioactive materials, decommissioning. We select topics from the fields of a) nuclear installation, b) seismic, and c) PSA, in projects from frame of annual safety research plan for nuclear installations established by Nuclear Safety Commission. We apply for the above a) and b) projects as follows: a) Achievements in Safety Research, fiscal 1991-1995, b) fiscal 1996 Safety Research Achievements: Progress. (author)

This report collects the results of safety research in nuclear fuelcycle at Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation, in order to answer to the Questionnaire of OECD/NEA. The Questionnaire request to include information concerning to research topic, description, main results (if available), reference documents, research institutes involved, sponsoring organization and other pertinent information about followings: a) Recently completed research projects. b) Ongoing (current) research projects. Achievements on following items are omitted by the request of OECD/NEA, uranium mining and milling, uranium refining and conversion to UF{sub 6}, uranium enrichment, fuel manufacturers, spent fuel storage, radioactive waste management, transport of radioactive materials, decommissioning. We select topics from the fields of a) nuclear installation, b) seismic, and c) PSA, in projects from frame of annual safety research plan for nuclear installations established by Nuclear Safety Commission. We apply for the above a) and b) projects as follows: a) Achievements in Safety Research, fiscal 1991-1995, b) fiscal 1996 Safety Research Achievements: Progress. (author)

This publication is intended to provide its readers with an introduction to the issues surrounding the subject of transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, especially as those issues impact the southern region of the United States. It was originally issued by the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB) in July 1987 as the Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Primer, a document patterned on work performed by the Western Interstate Energy Board and designed as a ``comprehensive overview of the issues.`` This work differs from that earlier effort in that it is designed for the educated layman with little or no background in nuclear waste issues. In addition, this document is not a comprehensive examination of nuclear waste issues but should instead serve as a general introduction to the subject. Owing to changes in the nuclear waste management system, program activities by the US Department of Energy and other federal agencies and developing technologies, much of this information is dated quickly. While this report uses the most recent data available, readers should keep in mind that some of the material is subject to rapid change. SSEB plans periodic updates in the future to account for changes in the program. Replacement pages will be supplied to all parties in receipt of this publication provided they remain on the SSEB mailing list.

This publication is intended to provide its readers with an introduction to the issues surrounding the subject of transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, especially as those issues impact the southern region of the United States. It was originally issued by SSEB in July 1987 as the Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Primer, a document patterned on work performed by the Western Interstate Energy Board and designed as a ``comprehensive overview of the issues.`` This work differs from that earlier effort in that it is designed for the educated layman with little or no background in nuclear waste Issues. In addition. this document is not a comprehensive examination of nuclear waste issues but should instead serve as a general introduction to the subject. Owing to changes in the nuclear waste management system, program activities by the US Department of Energy and other federal agencies and developing technologies, much of this information is dated quickly. While this report uses the most recent data available, readers should keep in mind that some of the material is subject to rapid change. SSEB plans periodic updates in the future to account for changes in the program. Replacement pages will be supplied to all parties in receipt of this publication provided they remain on the SSEB mailing list.

This publication is intended to provide its readers with an introduction to the issues surrounding the subject of transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, especially as those issues impact the southern region of the United States. It was originally issued by the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB) in July 1987 as the Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Primer, a document patterned on work performed by the Western Interstate Energy Board and designed as a ``comprehensive overview of the issues.`` This work differs from that earlier effort in that it is designed for the educated layman with little or no background in nuclear waste issues. In addition, this document is not a comprehensive examination of nuclear waste issues but should instead serve as a general introduction to the subject. Owing to changes in the nuclear waste management system, program activities by the US Department of Energy and other federal agencies and developing technologies, much of this information is dated quickly. While this report uses the most recent data available, readers should keep in mind that some of the material is subject to rapid change. SSEB plans periodic updates in the future to account for changes in the program. Replacement pages sew be supplied to all parties in receipt of this publication provided they remain on the SSEB mailing list.

The Accident Analysis Handbook (AAH) covers four generic facilities: fuel manufacturing, fuel reprocessing, waste storage/solidification, and spent fuel storage; and six accident types: fire, explosion, tornado, criticality, spill, and equipment failure. These are the accident types considered to make major contributions to the radiological risk from accidents in nuclear fuelcycle facility operations. The AAH will enable the user to calculate source term releases from accident scenarios manually or by computer. A major feature of the AAH is development of accident sample problems to provide input to source term analysis methods and transport computer codes. Sample problems and illustrative examples for different accident types are included in the AAH.

The National Briefing Summaries is a compilation of publicly available information concerning the nuclear fuelcycle and radioactive waste management strategies and programs of 21 nations, including the United States and three international agencies that have publicized their activities in this field. It presents available highlight information with references that may be used by the reader for additional information. The information in this document is compiled primarily for use by the US Department of Energy and other US federal agencies and their contractors to provide summary information on radioactive waste management activities in other countries. This document provides an awareness to managers and technical staff of what is occurring in other countries with regard to strategies, activities, and facilities. The information may be useful in program planning to improve and benefit United States' programs through foreign information exchange. Benefits to foreign exchange may be derived through a number of exchange activities.

A small fleet of classic London Taxis (Black cabs) equipped with hydrogen fuel cell power systems is being prepared for demonstration during the 2012 London Olympics. This paper presents a Life Cycle Analysis for these vehicles in terms of energy consumption and CO{sub 2} emissions, focusing on the impacts of alternative vehicle technologies for the Taxi, combining the fuel life cycle (Tank-to-Wheel and Well-to-Tank) and vehicle materials Cradle-to-Grave. An internal combustion engine diesel taxi was used as the reference vehicle for the currently available technology. This is compared to battery and fuel cell vehicle configurations. Accordingly, the following energy pathways are compared: diesel, electricity and hydrogen (derived from natural gas steam reforming). Full Life Cycle Analysis, using the PCO-CENEX drive cycle, (derived from actual London Taxi drive cycles) shows that the fuel cell powered vehicle configurations have lower energy consumption (4.34 MJ/km) and CO{sub 2} emissions (235 g/km) than both the ICE Diesel (9.54 MJ/km and 738 g/km) and the battery electric vehicle (5.81 MJ/km and 269 g/km). - Highlights: > A Life Cycle Analysis of alternative vehicle technologies for the London Taxi was performed. > The hydrogen powered vehicles have the lowest energy consumption and CO{sub 2} emissions results. > A hydrogen powered solution can be a sustainable alternative in a full life cycle framework.

As the US Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE contractors have become increasingly involved with other nations in nuclear fuelcycle and waste management cooperative activities, a need exists costs for a ready source of information concerning foreign fuelcycle programs, facilities, and personnel. This Fact Book has been compiled to meet that need. The information contained in the International Nuclear FuelCycle Fact Book has been obtained from many unclassified sources: nuclear trade journals and newsletters; reports of foreign visits and visitors; CEC, IAEA, and OECD/NMEA activities reports; and proceedings of conferences and workshops. The data listed typically do not reflect any single source but frequently represent a consolidation/combination of information.

As the US Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE contractors have become increasingly involved with other nations in nuclear fuelcycle and waste management cooperative activities, a need has developed for a ready source of information concerning foreign fuelcycle programs, facilities, and personnel. This Fact Book was compiled to meet that need. The information contained in the International Nuclear FuelCycle Fact Book has been obtained from many unclassified sources: nuclear trade journals and newsletters; reports of foreign visits and visitors; CEC, IAEA, and OECD/NEA activities reports; proceedings of conferences and workshops, etc. The data listed do not reflect any one single source but frequently represent a consolidation/combination of information.

As the US Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE contractors have become increasingly involved with other nations in nuclear fuelcycle and waste management cooperative activities, a need has developed for a ready source or information concerning foreign fuelcycle programs, facilities, and personnel. This Fact Book was compiled to meet that need. The information contained has been obtained from nuclear trade journals and newsletters; reports of foreign visits and visitors; CEC, IAEA, and OECD/NEA activities reports; proceedings of conferences and workshops; and so forth. Sources do not agree completely with each other, and the data listed herein does not reflect any one single source but frequently is consolidation/combination of information. Lack of space as well as the intent and purpose of the Fact Book limit the given information to that pertaining to the Nuclear FuelCycle and to data considered of primary interest or most helpful to the majority of users.

The concept of a tokamak-based stationary fusion neutron source (FNS) for scientific research (neutron diffraction, etc.), tests of structural materials for future fusion reactors, nuclear waste transmutation, fission reactor fuel production, and control of subcritical nuclear systems (fusion–fission hybrid reactor) is being developed in Russia. The fuelcycle system is one of the most important systems of FNS that provides circulation and reprocessing of the deuterium–tritium fuel mixture in all fusion reactor systems: the vacuum chamber, neutral injection system, cryogenic pumps, tritium purification system, separation system, storage system, and tritium-breeding blanket. The existing technologies need to be significantly upgraded since the engineering solutions adopted in the ITER project can be only partially used in the FNS (considering the capacity factor higher than 0.3, tritium flow up to 200 m{sup 3}Pa/s, and temperature of reactor elements up to 650°C). The deuterium–tritium fuelcycle of the stationary FNS is considered. The TC-FNS computer code developed for estimating the tritium distribution in the systems of FNS is described. The code calculates tritium flows and inventory in tokamak systems (vacuum chamber, cryogenic pumps, neutral injection system, fuel mixture purification system, isotope separation system, tritium storage system) and takes into account tritium loss in the fuelcycle due to thermonuclear burnup and β decay. For the two facility versions considered, FNS-ST and DEMO-FNS, the amount of fuel mixture needed for uninterrupted operation of all fuelcycle systems is 0.9 and 1.4 kg, consequently, and the tritium consumption is 0.3 and 1.8 kg per year, including 35 and 55 g/yr, respectively, due to tritium decay.

The concept of a tokamak-based stationary fusion neutron source (FNS) for scientific research (neutron diffraction, etc.), tests of structural materials for future fusion reactors, nuclear waste transmutation, fission reactor fuel production, and control of subcritical nuclear systems (fusion-fission hybrid reactor) is being developed in Russia. The fuelcycle system is one of the most important systems of FNS that provides circulation and reprocessing of the deuterium-tritium fuel mixture in all fusion reactor systems: the vacuum chamber, neutral injection system, cryogenic pumps, tritium purification system, separation system, storage system, and tritium-breeding blanket. The existing technologies need to be significantly upgraded since the engineering solutions adopted in the ITER project can be only partially used in the FNS (considering the capacity factor higher than 0.3, tritium flow up to 200 m3Pa/s, and temperature of reactor elements up to 650°C). The deuterium-tritium fuelcycle of the stationary FNS is considered. The TC-FNS computer code developed for estimating the tritium distribution in the systems of FNS is described. The code calculates tritium flows and inventory in tokamak systems (vacuum chamber, cryogenic pumps, neutral injection system, fuel mixture purification system, isotope separation system, tritium storage system) and takes into account tritium loss in the fuelcycle due to thermonuclear burnup and β decay. For the two facility versions considered, FNS-ST and DEMO-FNS, the amount of fuel mixture needed for uninterrupted operation of all fuelcycle systems is 0.9 and 1.4 kg, consequently, and the tritium consumption is 0.3 and 1.8 kg per year, including 35 and 55 g/yr, respectively, due to tritium decay.

Sodium Fast Reactors with Closed FuelCycle delivers a detailed discussion of an important technology that is being harnessed for commercial energy production in many parts of the world. Presenting the state of the art of sodium-cooled fast reactors with closed fuelcycles, this book:Offers in-depth coverage of reactor physics, materials, design, safety analysis, validations, engineering, construction, and commissioning aspectsFeatures a special chapter on allied sciences to highlight advanced reactor core materials, specialized manufacturing technologies, chemical sensors, in-service inspecti

LIFE are expected to result in a more straightforward licensing process and are also expected to improve the public perception of risk from nuclear power generation, transportation of nuclear materials, and nuclear waste disposal. Waste disposal is an ongoing issue for LWRs. The conventional (once-through) LWR fuelcycle treats unburned fuel as waste, and results in the current fleet of LWRs producing about twice as much waste in their 60 years of operation as is legally permitted to be disposed of in Yucca Mountain. Advanced LWR fuelcycles would recycle the unused fuel, such that each GWe-yr of electricity generation would produce only a small waste volume compared to the conventional fuelcycle. However, the advanced LWR fuelcycle requires chemical reprocessing plants for the fuel, multiple handling of radioactive materials, and an extensive transportation network for the fuel and waste. In contrast, the LIFE engine requires only one fueling for the plant lifetime, has no chemical reprocessing, and has a single shipment of a small amount of waste per GWe-yr of electricity generation. Public perception of the nuclear option will be improved by the reduction, for LIFE engines, of the number of shipments of radioactive material per GWe-yr and the need to build multiple repositories. In addition, LIFE fuel requires neither enrichment nor reprocessing, eliminating the two most significant pathways to proliferation from commercial nuclear fuel to weapons programs.

The Integrated Data Base (IDB) Program has compiled historic data on inventories and characteristics of both commercial and DOE spent fuel; also, commercial and U.S. government-owned radioactive wastes through December 31, 1992. These data are based on the most reliable information available from government sources, the open literature, technical reports, and direct contacts. The information forecasted is consistent with the latest U.S. Department of Energy/Energy Information Administration (DOE/EIA) projections of U.S. commercial nuclear power growth and the expected DOE-related and private industrial and institutional (I/I) activities. The radioactive materials considered, on a chapter-by-chapter basis, are spent nuclear fuel, high-level waste (HLW), transuranic (TRU), waste, low-level waste (LLW), commercial uranium mill tailings, environmental restoration wastes, commercial reactor and fuel-cycle facility decommissioning wastes, and mixed (hazardous and radioactive) LLW. For most of these categories, current and projected inventories are given through the calendar-year (CY) 2030, and the radioactivity and thermal power are calculated based on reported or estimated isotopic compositions. In addition, characteristics and current inventories are reported for miscellaneous radioactive materials that may require geologic disposal.

The Integrated Data Base (IDB) Program has compiled current data on inventories and characteristics of commercial spent fuel and both commercial and US government-owned radioactive wastes through December 31, 1991. These data are based on the most reliable information available from government sources, the open literature, technical reports, and direct contacts. The information forecasted is consistent with the latest US Department of Energy/Energy Information Administration (DOE/EIA) projections of US commercial nuclear power growth and the expected DOE-related and private industrial and institutional (I/I) activities. The radioactive materials considered, on a chapter-by-chapter basis, are spent nuclear fuel, high-level waste, transuranic waste, low-level waste, commercial uranium mill tailings, environmental restoration wastes, commercial reactor and fuelcycle facility decommissioning wastes, and mixed (hazardous and radioactive) low-level waste. For most of these categories, current and projected inventories are given through the year 2030, and the radioactivity and thermal power are calculated based on reported or estimated isotopic compositions. In addition, characteristics and current inventories are reported for miscellaneous radioactive materials that may require geologic disposal.

The Integrated Data Base Program has compiled historic data on inventories and characteristics of both commercial and DOE spent nuclear fuel; also, commercial and US government-owned radioactive wastes through December 31, 1993. These data are based on the most reliable information available from government sources, the open literature, technical reports, and direct contacts. The information forecasted is consistent with the latest US Department of Energy/Energy Information Administration projections of US commercial nuclear power growth and the expected DOE-related and private industrial and institutional activities. The radioactive materials considered, on a chapter-by-chapter basis, are spent nuclear fuel, high-level waste, transuranic waste, low-level waste, commercial uranium mill tailings, DOE Environmental Restoration Program wastes, commercial reactor and fuel-cycle facility decommissioning wastes, and mixed (hazardous and radioactive) low-level waste. For most of these categories, current and projected inventories are given the calendar-year 2030, and the radioactivity and thermal power are calculated based on reported or estimated isotopic compositions. In addition, characteristics and current inventories are reported for miscellaneous radioactive materials that may require geologic disposal. 256 refs., 38 figs., 141 tabs.

A wide variety of conceptual design studies have been conducted that describe ultra-high efficiency fossil power plant cycles. The most promising of these ultra-high efficiency cycles incorporate high temperature fuel cells with a gas turbine. Combining fuel cells with a gas turbine increases overall cycle efficiency while reducing per kilowatt emissions. This study has demonstrated that the unique approach taken to combining a fuel cell and gas turbine has both technical and economic merit. The approach used in this study eliminates most of the gas turbine integration problems associated with hybrid fuel cell turbine systems. By using a micro-turbine, and a non-pressurized fuel cell the total system size (kW) and complexity has been reduced substantially from those presented in other studies, while maintaining over 70% efficiency. The reduced system size can be particularly attractive in the deregulated electrical generation/distribution environment where the market may not demand multi-megawatt central stations systems. The small size also opens up the niche markets to this high efficiency, low emission electrical generation option.

The United States Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, FuelCycle Technology Program sponsors nuclear fuelcycle research and development. As part of its FuelCycle Options campaign, the DOE has established the Nuclear FuelCycle Options Catalog. The catalog is intended for use by the FuelCycle Technologies Program in planning its research and development activities and disseminating information regarding nuclear energy to interested parties. The purpose of this report is to document the improvements and additions that have been made to the Nuclear FuelCycle Options Catalog in the 2015 fiscal year.

The Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy’s FuelCycle Technologies program is preparing to evaluate several proposed nuclear fuelcycle options to help guide and prioritize FuelCycle Technology research and development. Metrics are being developed to assess performance against nine evaluation criteria that will be used to assess relevant impacts resulting from all phases of the fuelcycle. This report focuses on four specific environmental metrics. • land use • water use • CO2 emissions • radiological Dose to workers Impacts associated with the processes in the front-end of the nuclear fuelcycle, mining through enrichment and deconversion of DUF6 are summarized from FCRD-FCO-2012-000124, Revision 1. Impact estimates are developed within this report for the remaining phases of the nuclear fuelcycle. These phases include fuel fabrication, reactor construction and operations, fuel reprocessing, and storage, transport, and disposal of associated used fuel and radioactive wastes. Impact estimates for each of the phases of the nuclear fuelcycle are given as impact factors normalized per unit process throughput or output. These impact factors can then be re-scaled against the appropriate mass flows to provide estimates for a wide range of potential fuelcycles. A companion report, FCRD-FCO-2013-000213, applies the impact factors to estimate and provide a comparative evaluation of 40 fuelcycles under consideration relative to these four environmental metrics.

The International FuelCycle Fact Book has been compiled in an effort to provide (1) an overview of worldwide nuclear power and fuelcycle programs and (2) current data concerning fuelcycle and waste management facilities, R and D programs and key personnel. Additional information on each country's program is available in the International Source Book: Nuclear FuelCycle Research and Development, PNL-2478, Rev. 2.

A cost/benefit study was made to determine the cost and effectiveness of radioactive waste (radwaste) treatment systems for decreasing the release of radioactive materials and chemicals from a model uranium hexafluoride (UF/sub 6/) production plant using the solvent extraction-fluorination process, and to evaluate the radiological impact (dose commitment) of the release materials on the environment. The model plant processes 10,000 metric tons of uranium per year. Base-case waste treatment is the minimum necessary to operate the process. Effluents meet the radiological requirements listed in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 10, Part 20 (10 CFR 20), Appendix B, Table II, but may not be acceptable chemically at all sites. Additional radwaste treatment techniques are applied to the base-case plant in a series of case studies to decrease the amounts of radioactive materials released and to reduce the amounts of radioactive materials released and to reduce the radiological dose commitment to the population in the surrounding area. The costs for the added waste treatment operations and the corresponding dose committment are correlated with the annual cost for treatment of the radwastes. The status of the radwaste treatment methods used in the case studies is discussed. Much of the technology used in the advanced cases will require development and demonstration, or else is proprietary and unavailable for immediate use. The methodology and assumptions for the radiological doses are found in ORNL-4992.

This paper presents a new fuelcycle benchmarking analysis methodology by coupling Gaussian process regression, a popular technique in Machine Learning, to dynamic time warping, a mechanism widely used in speech recognition. Together they generate figures-of-merit that are applicable to any time series metric that a benchmark may study. The figures-of-merit account for uncertainty in the metric itself, utilize information across the whole time domain, and do not require that the simulators use a common time grid. Here, a distance measure is defined that can be used to compare the performance of each simulator for a given metric. Additionally, a contribution measure is derived from the distance measure that can be used to rank order the importance of fuelcycle metrics. Lastly, this paper warns against using standard signal processing techniques for error reduction. This is because it is found that error reduction is better handled by the Gaussian process regression itself.

A two-month survey of nuclear fuel-cycle models was undertaken. This report presents the information forthcoming from the survey. Of the nearly thirty codes reviewed in the survey, fifteen of these codes have been identified as potentially useful in fulfilling the tasks of the Nuclear Energy Analysis Division (NEAD) as defined in their FY 1981-1982 Program Plan. Six of the fifteen codes are given individual reviews. The individual reviews address such items as the funding agency, the author and organization, the date of completion of the code, adequacy of documentation, computer requirements, history of use, variables that are input and forecast, type of reactors considered, part of fuelcycle modeled and scope of the code (international or domestic, long-term or short-term, regional or national). The report recommends that the Model Evaluation Team perform an evaluation of the EUREKA uranium mining and milling code.

The FuelCycle Technologies (FCT) program supports the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) mission to: “Enhance U.S. security and economic growth through transformative science, technology innovation, and market solutions to meet our energy, nuclear security, and environmental challenges.” Goal 1 of DOE’s Strategic Plan is to innovate energy technologies that enhance U.S. economic growth and job creation, energy security, and environmental quality. FCT does this by investing in advanced technologies that could transform the nuclear fuelcycle in the decades to come. Goal 2 of DOE’s Strategic Plan is to strengthen national security by strengthening key science, technology, and engineering capabilities. FCT does this by working closely with the National Nuclear Security Administration and the U.S Department of State to develop advanced technologies that support the Nation’s nuclear nonproliferation goals.

The primary objective of radioactive waste management is protection of human health, environment and future generation. This article describes, briefly, the Indian programme on management of different radioactive wastes arising in the entire nuclear fuelcycle adhering to this objective.

An integrated data management system for the safe management of radioactive waste and spent fuel in Korea is developed to collect basic information, provide the framework for national regulation, and improve national competition and efficiency in the management of radioactive waste and spent fuel. This system can also provide public access to information such as a statistical graphs and integrated data from various waste generators to meet increased public needs and interests. So through the system, the five principles (independence, openness, clearance, efficiency and reliance) of safety regulation can be realized, and public understanding and reliance on the safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management can be promoted by providing reliable information, it can ensure an openness within the international nuclear community and efficiently support international agreements among contracting parties by operating safe and efficient management of spent fuel and radioactive waste (IAEA joint convention on the safety of spent fuel management and on the safety of radioactive waste management), the system can compensate for the imperfections in safe regulation of radioactive waste and spent fuel management related to waste generation, storage and disposal, and make it possible to holistic control and finally re-organize the basic framework of KINS's intermediate and long term research organization and trends, regarding waste management policy is to integrate safe management and unit safe disposal. For this objectives, benchmark study was performed on similar data base system worldwide and data specification with major input/output data during the first phase of this project.

The electricity from the nuclear power plants is around 40 % of total required electricity in Korea and according to the energy development plan, the proportion will be raised about 60 % in near future. To implement this plan, the most important factor is the back-end fuelcycle, namely the safe management of the spent fuel or high level radioactive wastes from the nuclear power plants. Various researches are being carried out to manage the spent fuel effectively in the world. In our country, as one of the management alternatives which is more effective and non-proliferation, pyro-processing method is being developed actively to retrieve reusable uranium and TRU, and to reduce the volume of high level waste from a Nuclear power plant. This is a new dry recycling process. In this report, the amount of various wastes and their characteristics are estimated in a Pyro-process. Based on these information, the geological disposal alternatives are developed. According to the amount and the characteristics of each waste, the concepts of waste packages and the disposal container are developed. And also from the characteristics of the radioactivity and the heat generation, multi-layer of the depth is considered to dispose these wastes. The proposed various alternatives in this report can be used as input data for design of the deep geological disposal system. And they will be improved through the application of the real site data and safety assessment in the future. After then, the final disposal concept will be selected with various assessment and the optimization will be carried out.

A cost/benefit study was made to determine the cost and effectiveness of radioactive waste (radwaste) treatment systems for decreasing the release of radioactive materials and chemicals from a model uranium hexafluoride (UF/sub 6/) production plant using the fluorination-fractionation (dry hydrofluor) process, and to evaluate the radiological impact (dose commitment) of the released materials on the environment. This study is designed to assist in defining the term as low as is reasonably achievable (ALARA) in relation to limiting the release of radioactive materials from nuclear facilities. The model plant processes 10,000 metric tons of uranium per year. Base-case waste treatment is the minimum necessary to operate the process. Effluents meet the radiological requirements listed in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 10, Part 20 (10 CFR 20), Appendix B, Table II, but may not be acceptable chemically at all sites. Additional radwaste treatment techniques are applied to the base-case plant in a series of case studies to decrease the amounts of radioactive materials released and to reduce the radiological dose commitment to the population in the surrounding area. The costs for the added waste treatment operations and the corresponding dose commitment are calculated for each case. In the final analysis, radiological dose is plotted vs the annual cost for treatment of the radwastes. The status of the radwaste treatment methods used in the case studies is discussed. Much of the technology used in the advanced cases will require development and demonstration or else is proprietary and unavailable for immediate use. The methodology and assumptions for the radiological doses are found in ORNL-4992.

Full Text Available The mining of radioactive raw materials may be considered as an origin of the nuclear fuel chain and thus determines the amount of radioactive wastes which have to be stored safety in the final stage of the fuel chain. The paper informs about the existing trends in mining of radioactive raw materials in the world, provides an overview of development in mining in the Czech Republic and of possibilities of future exploiting some uranium deposits. It points a possibility of non-traditional obtaining uranium from mine waters from underground uranium mines closed and flooded earlier.

This study is aimed at evaluating the existing waste management approaches for nuclear fuelcycle facilities in comparison to the objectives of implementing an advanced fuelcycle in the U.S. under current legal, regulatory, and logistical constructs. The study begins with the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) Integrated Waste Management Strategy (IWMS) (Gombert et al. 2008) as a general strategy and associated Waste Treatment Baseline Study (WTBS) (Gombert et al. 2007). The tenets of the IWMS are equally valid to the current waste management study. However, the flowsheet details have changed significantly from those considered under GNEP. In addition, significant additional waste management technology development has occurred since the GNEP waste management studies were performed. This study updates the information found in the WTBS, summarizes the results of more recent technology development efforts, and describes waste management approaches as they apply to a representative full recycle reprocessing flowsheet. Many of the waste management technologies discussed also apply to other potential flowsheets that involve reprocessing. These applications are occasionally discussed where the data are more readily available. The report summarizes the waste arising from aqueous reprocessing of a typical light-water reactor (LWR) fuel to separate actinides for use in fabricating metal sodium fast reactor (SFR) fuel and from electrochemical reprocessing of the metal SFR fuel to separate actinides for recycle back into the SFR in the form of metal fuel. The primary streams considered and the recommended waste forms include; Tritium in low-water cement in high integrity containers (HICs); Iodine-129: As a reference case, a glass composite material (GCM) formed by the encapsulation of the silver Mordenite (AgZ) getter material in a low-temperature glass is assumed. A number of alternatives with distinct advantages are also considered including a fused silica waste form

This study explores the impact of wastes generated from potential future fuelcycles and the issues presented by classifying these under current classification criteria, and discusses the possibility of a comprehensive and consistent characteristics-based classification framework based on new waste streams created from advanced fuelcycles. A static mass flow model, Fuel-Cycle Integration and Tradeoffs (FIT), was used to calculate the composition of waste streams resulting from different nuclear fuelcycle choices. This analysis focuses on the impact of waste form heat load on waste classification practices, although classifying by metrics of radiotoxicity, mass, and volume is also possible. The value of separation of heat-generating fission products and actinides in different fuelcycles is discussed. It was shown that the benefits of reducing the short-term fission-product heat load of waste destined for geologic disposal are neglected under the current source-based radioactive waste classification system , and that it is useful to classify waste streams based on how favorable the impact of interim storage is in increasing repository capacity.

This report is intended to provide a coherent view of the diversity of factors that may affect nuclear fuelcycle economics through about 1985. The nuclear fuelcycle was surveyed as to past trends, current problems, and future considerations. Unit costs were projected for each step in the fuelcycle. Nuclear fuel accounting procedures were reviewed; methods of calculating fuel costs were examined; and application was made to Light Water Reactors (LWR) over the next decade. A method conforming to Federal Power Commission accounting procedures and used by utilities to account for backend fuel-cycle costs was described which assigns a zero net salvage value to discharged fuel. LWR fuelcycle costs of from 4 to 6 mills/kWhr (1976 dollars) were estimated for 1985. These are expected to reach 6 to 9 mills/kWr if the effect of inflation is included.

A dynamic simulation code for fuelcycle of a fusion experimental reactor has been developed. The code follows the fuel inventory change with time in the plasma chamber and the fuelcycle system during 2 days pulse operation cycles. The time dependence of the fuel inventory distribution is evaluated considering the fuel burn and exhaust in the plasma chamber, purification and supply functions. For each subsystem of the plasma chamber and the fuelcycle system, the fuel inventory equation is written based on the equation of state considering the fuel burn and the function of exhaust, purification, and supply. The processing constants of subsystem for steady states were taken from the values in the ITER Conceptual Design Activity (CDA) report. Using this code, the time dependence of the fuel supply and inventory depending on the burn state and subsystem processing functions are shown. (author)

This study examines the economics of the DUPIC fuelcycle using unit costs of fuelcycle components estimated based on conceptual designs. The fuelcycle cost (FCC) was calculated by a deterministic method in which reference values of fuelcycle components are used. The FCC was then analyzed by a Monte Carlo simulation to get the uncertainty of the FCC associated with the unit costs of the fuelcycle components. From the deterministic analysis on the one-batch equilibrium fuelcycle model, the DUPIC FCC was estimated to be 6.55-6.72 mills/kWh for proposed DUPIC fuel options, which is a little smaller than that of the once-through FCC by 0.04-0.28 mills/kWh. Considering the uncertainty (0.45-0.51 mills/kWh) of the FCC estimated by the Monte Carlo simulation method, the cost difference between the DUPIC and once-through fuelcycle is negligible. On the other hand, the material balance calculation has shown that the DUPIC fuelcycle can save natural uranium resources by -20% and reduce the spent fuel arising by -65%, compared with the once-through fuelcycle. In conclusion, the DUPIC fuelcycle possesses a strong advantage over the once-through fuelcycle from the viewpoint of the environmental effect.

The nuclear fuelcycle consists of a series of industrial processes that produce fuel for the production of electricity in nuclear reactors, use the fuel to generate electricity, and subsequently manage the spent reactor fuel. While the physics and engineering of controlled fission are central to the generation of nuclear power, chemistry…

In Korea, sixteen nuclear reactors are in operation and by 2015, a total of twenty-six nuclear reactors will be in operation. The current nuclear share occupies about 29.2 % of the total generating capacity of electricity and 43.1 % of the total production of electricity. The active nuclear program causes an inevitable increase in the build-up of radioactive waste, including spent fuel. Therefore, reliable and effective management of radioactive waste and spent fuel has become a key to the continuous growth of the nuclear power program. By the end of 2000, a total of 57,270 drums of LILW were generated from the nuclear power plants (NPPs) and the total amount of LILW from NPPs, RI applications from more than 1,500 users, and decommissioning shall increase to around a quarter of a million drums by 2020. Also, the cumulative amount of spent fuel reached 4,760 MTU by the end of 2000 and will jump to 18,615 MTU by 2020. According to the new national planning, AFR storage facilities for spent fuels shall be built by 2016 and a repository for LILW radioactive disposal shall be in operation by 2008. Even though Korea has a ''wait and see policy'' for spent fuel management, several alternative studies on spent fuel management such as DUPIC have been carried out. In parallel, R and D activities to develop the needed technologies for the permanent disposal of spent fuel and HLW have been implemented. In addition, active R and D on the treatment of radioactive waste from the various nuclear fuelcycles as well as the decontamination and decommissioning of nuclear facilities are in progress. Many of these studies are pursued in the form of regional as well as international cooperation. (author)

The purpose of this work is to improve the understanding of the concept of life cycle analysis (LCA) of transportation fuels and some of its pertinent issues among non-technical people, senior managers, and policy makers. This work should provide some guidance to nations considering LCA-based policies and to people who are affected by existing policies or those being developed. While the concept of employing LCA to evaluate fuel options is simple and straightforward, the act of putting the concept into practice is complex and fraught with issues. Policy makers need to understand the limitations inherent in carrying out LCA work for transportation fuel systems. For many systems, even those that have been employed for a 100 years, there is a lack of sound data on the performance of those systems. Comparisons between systems should ideally be made using the same tool, so that differences caused by system boundaries, allocation processes, and temporal issues can be minimized (although probably not eliminated). Comparing the results for fuel pathway 1 from tool A to those of fuel system 2 from tool B introduces significant uncertainty into the results. There is also the question of the scale of system changes. LCA will give more reliable estimates when it is used to examine small changes in transportation fuel pathways than when used to estimate large scale changes that replace current pathways with completely new pathways. Some LCA tools have been developed recently primarily for regulatory purposes. These tools may deviate from ISO principles in order to facilitate simplicity and ease of use. In a regulatory environment, simplicity and ease of use are worthy objectives and in most cases there is nothing inherently wrong with this approach, particularly for assessing relative performance. However, the results of these tools should not be confused with, or compared to, the results that are obtained from a more complex and rigorous ISO compliant LCA. It should be

Information is presented under the following section headings: fuel reprocessing; spent fuel and high-level and transuranic waste storage; spent fuel and high-level and transuranic waste disposal; low-level and intermediate-level waste disposal; and, transportation of radioactive materials in the nuclear fuelcycle. In each of the first three sections a description is given on the mainline process, effluent processing and waste management systems, plant layout, and alternative process schemes. Safety information and a summary are also included in each. The section on transport of radioactive materials includes information on the transportation of uranium ore, uranium ore concentrate, UF/sub 6/, PuO/sub 2/ powder, unirradiated uranium and mixed-oxide fuel assemblies, spent fuel, solidified high-level waste, contact-handled transuranic waste, remote-handled transuranic waste, and low and intermediate level nontransuranic waste. A glossary is included. (JGB)

The purpose of this document is to profile analytical tools and methods which could be used in a total fuelcycle analysis. The information in this document provides a significant step towards: (1) Characterizing the stages of the fuelcycle. (2) Identifying relevant impacts which can feasibly be evaluated quantitatively or qualitatively. (3) Identifying and reviewing other activities that have been conducted to perform a fuelcycle assessment or some component thereof. (4) Reviewing the successes/deficiencies and opportunities/constraints of previous activities. (5) Identifying methods and modeling techniques/tools that are available, tested and could be used for a fuelcycle assessment.

An integrated data management system for the safe management of radioactive waste and spent fuel in Korea is developed to collect basic information, provide the framework for national regulation and improve national competition and efficiency in the management of radioactive waste and spent fuel. This system can also provide public access to information such as a statistical graphs and integrated data from various waste generators to meet increased public needs and interests. Through the system, the five principles(independence, openness, clearance, efficiency and reliance) of safety regulation can be realized and public understanding and reliance on the safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management can be promoted. By providing reliable information and openness within the international nuclear community can be ensured and efficient support of international agreements among contracting parties can be ensured. By operating safe and efficient management of spent fuel and radioactive waste (IAEA joint convention on the safety of spent fuel management and on the safety of radioactive waste management), the system can compensate for the imperfections in safe regulation of radioactive waste and spent fuel management related to waste generation, storage and disposal, and make it possible for holistic control and reorganization of the basic framework of KINS's intermediate and long term research organization and trends, regarding waste management policy so as to integrate safe management and unit safe disposal. To meet this objectives, design of the database system structure and the study of input/output data validation and verification methodology was performed during the second phase of this project.

This report describes the results of a scoping study to estimate the external costs of the Dutch nuclear fuelcycle. This study was performed within the framework of the Commission of the European Community`s External Costs of FuelCycles project. The external costs of a fuelcycle are those costs which are excluded from the standard calculation of the cost of electricity. These costs are borne by society as a whole and include, in particular, the health and environmental costs which result from the operation of the facilities involved in a given fuelcycle. At present the uranium enrichment, electricity generation and interim storage stages of the nuclear fuelcycle take place in the Netherlands. These stages of the Dutch nuclear fuelcycle have been studied in detail and the external costs associated with thse stages estimated using up-to-date site specific data. The other stages of the Dutch nuclear fuelcycle do not currently take place in the Netherlands. In general the external costs associated with these stages have been estimated using data from the literature. Relatively few transports of radioactive materials associated with the Dutch nuclear fuelcycle take place in the Netherlands and the external costs associated with all transports has been based on values in the literature. (orig.).

The global energy context pleads in favour of a sustainable development of nuclear energy since the demand for energy will likely increase, whereas resources will tend to get scarcer and the prospect of global warming will drive down the consumption of fossil fuel. In this context, nuclear power has the worldwide potential to curtail the dependence on fossil fuels and thereby to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions while promoting energy independence. How we deal with nuclear radioactive waste is crucial in this context. In France, the public's concern regarding the long-term waste management made the French Governments to prepare and pass the 1991 and 2006 Acts, requesting in particular the study of applicable solutions for still minimizing the quantity and the hazardousness of final waste. This necessitates High Active Long Life element (such as the Minor Actinides MA) recycling, since the results of fuelcycle R&D could significantly change the challenges for the storage of nuclear waste. HALL recycling can reduce the heat load and the half-life of most of the waste to be buried to a couple of hundred years, overcoming the concerns of the public related to the long-life of the waste and thus aiding the "burying approach" in securing a "broadly agreed political consensus" of waste disposal in a geological repository. This paper presents an overview of the recent R and D results obtained at the CEA Atalante facility on innovative actinide partitioning hydrometallurgical processes. For americium and curium partitioning, these results concern improvements and possible simplifications of the Diamex-Sanex process, whose technical feasibility was already demonstrated in 2005. Results on the first tests of the Ganex process (grouped actinide separation for homogeneous recycling) are also discussed. In the coming years, next steps will involve both better in-depth understanding of the basis of these actinide partitioning processes and, for the new promising

The FuelCycle Risk Assessment Program was initiated to provide risk assessment methods for assistance in the regulatory process for nuclear fuelcycle facilities other than reactors. This report, the first from the program, defines and describes fuelcycle elements that are being considered in the program. One type of facility (and in some cases two) is described that is representative of each element of the fuelcycle. The descriptions are based on real industrial-scale facilities that are current state-of-the-art, or on conceptual facilities where none now exist. Each representative fuelcycle facility is assumed to be located on the appropriate one of four hypothetical but representative sites described. The fuelcycles considered are for Light Water Reactors with once-through flow of spent fuel, and with plutonium and uranium recycle. Representative facilities for the following fuelcycle elements are described for uranium (or uranium plus plutonium where appropriate): mining, milling, conversion, enrichment, fuel fabrication, mixed-oxide fuel refabrication, fuel reprocessing, spent fuel storage, high-level waste storage, transuranic waste storage, spent fuel and high-level and transuranic waste disposal, low-level and intermediate-level waste disposal, and transportation. For each representative facility the description includes: mainline process, effluent processing and waste management, facility and hardware description, safety-related information and potential alternative concepts for that fuelcycle element. The emphasis of the descriptive material is on safety-related information. This includes: operating and maintenance requirements, input/output of major materials, identification and inventories of hazardous materials (particularly radioactive materials), unit operations involved, potential accident driving forces, containment and shielding, and degree of hands-on operation.

The safety research in Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation in fiscal year 1996 has been carried out based on the basic plan of safety research (from fiscal year 1996 to 2000) which was decided in March, 1996. In this report, on nuclear fuelcycle field, namely all the subjects in the fields of nuclear fuel facilities, environmental radioactivity and waste disposal, and the subjects related to nuclear fuel facilities among the fields of aseismatic and probabilistic safety assessments, the results of research in fiscal year 1996, the first year of the 5-year project, are summarized together with the outline of the basic plan of safety research. The basic policy, objective and system for promotion of the safety research are described. The objectives of the safety research are the advancement of safety technology, the safety of facilities, stable operation techniques, the safety design and the evaluation techniques of next generation facilities, and the support of transferring nuclear fuelcycle to private businesses. The objects of the research are uranium enrichment, fuel fabrication and reprocessing, and waste treatment and storage. 52 investigation papers of the results of the safety research in nuclear fuelcycle field in fiscal year 1996 are collected in this report. (K.I.)

For decades, nuclear energy development was based on the expectation that recycling of the fissionable materials in the used fuel from today's light water reactors into advanced (fast) reactors would be implemented as soon as technically feasible in order to extend the nuclear fuel resources. More recently, arguments have been made for deployment of fast reactors in order to reduce the amount of higher actinides, hence the longevity of radioactivity, in the materials destined to a geologic repository. The cost of the fast reactors, together with concerns about the proliferation of the technology of extraction of plutonium from used LWR fuel as well as the large investments in construction of reprocessing facilities have been the basis for arguments to defer the introduction of recycling technologies in many countries including the US. In this thesis, the impacts of alternative reactor technologies on the fuelcycle are assessed. Additionally, metrics to characterize the fuelcycles and systematic approaches to using them to optimize the fuelcycle are presented. The fuelcycle options of the 2010 MIT fuelcycle study are re-examined in light of the expected slower rate of growth in nuclear energy today, using the CAFCA (Code for Advanced FuelCycle Analysis). The Once Through Cycle (OTC) is considered as the base-line case, while advanced technologies with fuel recycling characterize the alternative fuelcycle options available in the future. The options include limited recycling in L WRs and full recycling in fast reactors and in high conversion LWRs. Fast reactor technologies studied include both oxide and metal fueled reactors. Additional fuelcycle scenarios presented for the first time in this work assume the deployment of innovative recycling reactor technologies such as the Reduced Moderation Boiling Water Reactors and Uranium-235 initiated Fast Reactors. A sensitivity study focused on system and technology parameters of interest has been conducted to test

The purpose of this Software Requirements Specification (SRS) is to define the top-level requirements for a Verifiable FuelCycle Simulation Model (VISION) of the Advanced FuelCycle (AFC). This simulation model is intended to serve a broad systems analysis and study tool applicable to work conducted as part of the AFCI (including costs estimates) and Generation IV reactor development studies.

This is a summary report that compares emissions during the entire project life cycle for a number of fossil-fueled and renewable electric power systems, including geothermal steam (probably modeled after The Geysers). The life cycle is broken into Fuel Extraction, Construction, and Operation. The only emission covered is carbon dioxide. (DJE 2005)

The ERDA Division of Nuclear Research and Applications proposed 67 nuclear fuelcycles for assessment as to their nonproliferation potential. The object of the assessment was to determine which fuelcycles pose inherently low risk for nuclear weapon proliferation while retaining the major benefits of nuclear energy. This report is a preliminary analysis of these fuelcycles to develop the fuel-recycle data that will complement reactor data, environmental data, and political considerations, which must be included in the overall evaluation. This report presents the preliminary evaluations from ANL, HEDL, ORNL, and SRL and is the basis for a continuing in-depth study. (DLC)

The nuclear industry, at least in the United States, has failed to deliver on its promise of cheap, abundant energy. After pioneering the science and application and becoming a primary exporter of nuclear technologies, domestic use of nuclear power fell out-of-favor with the public and has been relatively stagnant for several decades. Recently, renewed interest has generated optimism and talk of a nuclear renaissance characterized by a new generation of safe, clean nuclear plants in this country. But, as illustrated by recent policy shifts regarding closure of the fuelcycle and geologic disposal of high-level radioactive wastes, significant hurdles have yet to be overcome. Using the principles of system dynamics, this paper will take a holistic look at the nuclear industry and the interactions between the key players to explore both the intended and unintended consequences of efforts to address the issues that have impeded the growth of the industry and also to illustrate aspects which must be effectively addressed if the renaissance of our industry is to be achieved and sustained.

The total-system life-cycle cost (TSLCC) analysis for the Department of Energy`s (DOE) Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program is an ongoing activity that helps determine whether the revenue-producing mechanism established by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 -- a fee levied on electricity generated in commercial nuclear power plants -- is sufficient to cover the cost of the program. This report provides cost estimates for the sixth annual evaluation of the adequacy of the fee and is consistent with the program strategy and plans contained in the DOE`s Draft 1988 Mission Plan Amendment. The total-system cost for the system with a repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, a facility for monitored retrievable storage (MRS), and a transportation system is estimated at $24 billion (expressed in constant 1988 dollars). In the event that a second repository is required and is authorized by the Congress, the total-system cost is estimated at $31 to $33 billion, depending on the quantity of spent fuel to be disposed of. The $7 billion cost savings for the single-repository system in comparison with the two-repository system is due to the elimination of $3 billion for second-repository development and $7 billion for the second-repository facility. These savings are offset by $2 billion in additional costs at the first repository and $1 billion in combined higher costs for the MRS facility and transportation. 55 refs., 2 figs., 24 tabs.

During FY 2010, five studies were conducted of technology families’ applicability to various fuelcycle strategies to fill in knowledge gaps in option space and to better understand trends and patterns. Here, a “technology family” is considered to be defined by a type of reactor and by selection of which actinides provide fuel. This report summarizes the higher-level findings; the detailed analyses and results are documented in five individual reports, as follows: • Advanced once through with uranium fuel in fast reactors (SFR), • Advanced once through (uranium fuel) or single recycle (TRU fuel) in high temperature gas cooled reactors (HTGR), • Sustained recycle with Th/U-233 in light water reactors (LWRs), • Sustained recycle with Th/U-233 in molten salt reactors (MSR), and • Several fuelcycle missions with Fusion-Fission Hybrid (FFH). Each study examined how the designated technology family could serve one or more designated fuelcycle missions, filling in gaps in overall option space. Each study contains one or more illustrative cases that show how the technology family could be used to meet a fuelcycle mission, as well as broader information on the technology family such as other potential fuelcycle missions for which insufficient information was available to include with an illustrative case. None of the illustrative cases can be considered as a reference, baseline, or nominal set of parameters for judging performance; the assessments were designed to assess areas of option space and were not meant to be optimized. There is no implication that any of the cases or technology families are necessarily the best way to meet a given fuelcycle mission. The studies provide five examples of 1-year fuelcycle assessments of technology families. There is reasonable coverage in the five studies of the performance areas of waste management and uranium utilization. The coverage of economics, safety, and proliferation resistance and physical protection in

Proliferation resistance (PR) has been evaluated for the five nuclear fuelcycle systems, potentially deployable in Korea in the future, using the fourteen proliferation resistance attributes suggested in the TOPS report. Unidimensional Utility Theory (UUT) was used in the calculation of utility value for each of the fourteen proliferation resistance attributes, and Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT), a decision tool with multiple objectives, was used in the evaluation of the proliferation resistance of each nuclear fuelcycle system. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Expert Elicitation (EE) were utilized in the derivation of weighting factors for the fourteen proliferation resistance attributes. Among the five nuclear fuelcycle systems evaluated, the once-through fuelcycle system showed the highest level of proliferation resistance, and Pyroprocessing-SFR fuelcycle system showed the similar level of proliferation resistance with the DUPIC fuelcycle system, which has two time higher level of proliferation resistance compared to that of the thermal MOX fuelcycle system. Sensitivity analysis was also carried out to make up for the uncertainty associated with the derivation of weighting factors for the fourteen proliferation resistance attributes.

In order to obtain a cycle average maximum fuel temperature without rigorous efforts, a neutronics/thermo-fluid coupled calculation is needed with depletion capability. Recently, a CAPP/GAMMA+ coupled code system has been developed and the initial core of PMR200 was analyzed using the CAPP/GAMMA+ code system. The GAMMA+ code is a system thermo-fluid analysis code and the CAPP code is a neutronics code. The General Atomics proposed that the design limit of the fuel temperature under normal operating conditions should be a cycle-averaged maximum value. Nonetheless, the existing works of Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) only calculated the maximum fuel temperature at a fixed time point, e.g., the beginning of cycle (BOC) just because the calculation capability was not ready for a cycle average value. In this work, a cycle average maximum fuel temperature has been calculated using CAPP/GAMMA+ code system for the equilibrium core of PMR200. The CAPP/GAMMA+ coupled calculation was carried out for the equilibrium core of PMR 200 from BOC to EOC to obtain a cycle average peak fuel temperature. The peak fuel temperature was predicted to be 1372 .deg. C near MOC. However, the cycle average peak fuel temperature was calculated as 1181 .deg. C, which is below the design target of 1250 .deg. C.

The following report provides a rich resource of information for exploring fuelcycle characteristics. The most noteworthy trends can be traced back to the utilization efficiency of natural uranium resources. By definition, complete uranium utilization occurs only when all of the natural uranium resource can be introduced into the nuclear reactor long enough for all of it to undergo fission. Achieving near complete uranium utilization requires technologies that can achieve full recycle or at least nearly full recycle of the initial natural uranium consumed from the Earth. Greater than 99% of all natural uranium is fertile, and thus is not conducive to fission. This fact requires the fuelcycle to convert large quantities of non-fissile material into fissile transuranics. Step increases in waste benefits are closely related to the step increase in uranium utilization going from non-breeding fuelcycles to breeding fuelcycles. The amount of mass requiring a disposal path is tightly coupled to the quantity of actinides in the waste stream. Complete uranium utilization by definition means that zero (practically, near zero) actinide mass is present in the waste stream. Therefore, fuelcycles with complete (uranium and transuranic) recycle discharge predominately fission products with some actinide process losses. Fuelcycles without complete recycle discharge a much more massive waste stream because only a fraction of the initial actinide mass is burned prior to disposal. In a nuclear growth scenario, the relevant acceptable frequency for core damage events in nuclear reactors is inversely proportional to the number of reactors deployed in a fuelcycle. For ten times the reactors in a fleet, it should be expected that the fleet-average core damage frequency be decreased by a factor of ten. The relevant proliferation resistance of a fuelcycle system is enhanced with: decreasing reliance on domestic fuelcycle services, decreasing adaptability for technology misuse

Radioactive iodine is the Achilles’ heel in the design for the safe geological disposal of spent UO2 nuclear fuel. Iodine’s high solubility and anticipated instant release during waste package compromise jeopardize performance assessment calculations. However, dissolution studies have indicated that the instant release fraction (IRF) of radioiodine (I) does not correlate with increasing fuel burn-up. In fact, there is a peak in the release iodine at around 50-60 Mwd/kgU and with increasing burn-up the instant release of iodine decreases. Detailed electron microscopy analysis of high burn-up fuel (~80 MWd/kgU) has revealed the presence of (Pd,Ag)(I,Br) nano-particles. As UO2 fuels are irradiated, the Ag and Pd content increases, from 239Pu fission, enabling radioiodine to be retained. The occurrence of these phases in nuclear fuels may have significant implications for the long-term behavior of iodine.

LLNL is a participant of California's Advanced Energy Pathways (AEP) team funded by DOE (NETL). At the AEP technical review meeting on November 9, 2006. The AB 1007 FFCA team (Appendix A) requested LLNL participate in a peer review of the FFCA reports. The primary contact at the CEC was McKinley Addy. The following reports/presentations were received by LLNL: (1) Full FuelCycle Energy and Emissions Assumptions dated September 2006, TIAX; (2) Full Fuelcycle Assessment-Well to Tank Energy Inputs, Emissions, and Water Impacts dated December 2006, TIAX; and (3) Full FuelCycle Analysis Assessment dated October 12, 2006, TIAX.

The Integrated Data Base Program has compiled historic data on inventories and characteristics of both commercial and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and commercial and U.S. government-owned radioactive wastes. Inventories of most of these materials are reported as of the end of fiscal year (FY) 1996, which is September 30, 1996. Commercial SNF and commercial uranium mill tailings inventories are reported on an end-of-calendar year (CY) basis. All SNF and radioactive waste data reported are based on the most reliable information available from government sources, the open literature, technical reports, and direct contacts. The information forecasted is consistent with the latest DOE/Energy Information Administration (EIA) projections of U.S. commercial nuclear power growth and the expected DOE-related and private industrial and institutional activities. The radioactive materials considered, on a chapter-by-chapter basis, are SNF, high-level waste, transuranic waste, low-level waste, uranium mill tailings, DOE Environmental Restoration Program contaminated environmental media, naturally occurring and accelerator-produced radioactive material, and mixed (hazardous and radioactive) low-level waste. For most of these categories, current and projected inventories are given through FY 2030, and the radioactivity and thermal power are calculated based on reported or estimated isotopic compositions.

A detailed description is given of the ARC System fuelcycle modules FCI001, FCC001, FCC002, and FCC003 which form the fuelcycle analysis modules of the ARC System. These modules, in conjunction with certain other modules of the ARC System previously described in documents of this series, form the fuelcycle analysis system called REBUS-2. The physical model upon which the REBUS-2 fuelcycle modules are based and the calculational approach used in solving this model are discussed in detail. The REBUS-2 system either solves for the infinite time (i.e., equilibrium) operating conditions of a fuel recycle system under fixed fuel management conditions, or solves for the operating conditions during each of a series of explicitly specified (i.e., nonequilibrium) sequence of burn cycles. The code has the capability to adjust the fuel enrichment, the burn time, and the control poison requirements in order to satisfy user specified constraints on criticality, discharge fuel burnup, or to give the desired multiplication constant at some specified time during the reactor operation.

The final spent fuel management method has yet to be established, and the South Korean government is expected to decide on the final spent fuel management method under a national consensus. In particular, two methods of spent fuel management are under consideration: Direct disposal in base rock several hundred meters underground and recycling. The present study reviewed the direction of improvement of the regulatory system that can be applied when an advanced fuelcycle for recycling spent fuel is adopted as the final management method. For recycling to be adopted as the domestic final spent fuel management method, there remains the task of having to overcome the stumbling blocks of a national consensus and the Agreement for Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Government of the United States of America concerning the Civil Use of Atomic Energy (Korea-US Atomic Energy Agreement). To resolve this and to construct and operate advanced fuelcycle facilities, it is necessary to establish an applicable legal system, which the present study reviewed. The results of the present study are expected to be used as the basic data in improving the legal system after the realization of advanced fuelcycles in the future. In addition, research on the development of technical standards and safety requirements for advanced fuelcycle facilities will continue to be necessary.

Small modular reactors may offer potential benefits, such as enhanced operational flexibility. However, it is vital to understand the holistic impact of small modular reactors on the nuclear fuelcycle and fuelcycle performance. The focus of this paper is on the fuelcycle impacts of light water small modular reactors in a once-through fuelcycle with low-enriched uranium fuel. A key objective of this paper is to describe preliminary reactor core physics and fuelcycle analyses conducted in support of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy FuelCycle Options Campaign. Challenges with small modular reactors include: increased neutron leakage, fewer assemblies in the core (and therefore fewer degrees of freedom in the core design), complex enrichment and burnable absorber loadings, full power operation with inserted control rods, the potential for frequent load-following operation, and shortened core height. Each of these will impact the achievable discharge burn-up in the reactor and the fuelcycle performance. This paper summarizes the results of an expert elicitation focused on developing a list of the factors relevant to small modular reactor fuel, core, and operation that will impact fuelcycle performance. Preliminary scoping analyses were performed using a regulatory-grade reactor core simulator. The hypothetical light water small modular reactor considered in these preliminary scoping studies is a cartridge type one-batch core with 4.9% enrichment. Some core parameters, such as the size of the reactor and general assembly layout, are similar to an example small modular reactor concept from industry. The high-level issues identified and preliminary scoping calculations in this paper are intended to inform on potential fuelcycle impacts of one-batch thermal spectrum SMRs. In particular, this paper highlights the impact of increased neutron leakage and reduced number of batches on the achievable burn-up of the reactor. Fuelcycle performance

Department of Energy Order 435.1, 'Radioactive Waste Management,' along with its associated manual and guidance, requires development and maintenance of a radioactive waste management basis for each radioactive waste management facility, operation, and activity. This document presents a radioactive waste management basis for Idaho National Laboratory's Materials and Fuels Complex facilities that manage radioactive waste. The radioactive waste management basis for a facility comprises existing laboratory-wide and facility-specific documents. Department of Energy Manual 435.1-1, 'Radioactive Waste Management Manual,' facility compliance tables also are presented for the facilities. The tables serve as a tool for developing the radioactive waste management basis.

Full Text Available The removal of volatile radionuclides generated during used nuclear fuel reprocessing in the US is almost certain to be necessary for the licensing of a reprocessing facility in the US. Various control technologies have been developed, tested, or used over the past 50 years for control of volatile radionuclide emissions from used fuel reprocessing plants. The US DOE has sponsored, since 2009, an Off-gas Sigma Team to perform research and development focused on the most pressing volatile radionuclide control and immobilization problems. In this paper, we focus on the control requirements and methodologies for 85Kr and 129I. Numerous candidate technologies have been studied and developed at laboratory and pilot-plant scales in an effort to meet the need for high iodine control efficiency and to advance alternatives to cryogenic separations for krypton control. Several of these show promising results. Iodine decontamination factors as high as 105, iodine loading capacities, and other adsorption parameters including adsorption rates have been demonstrated under some conditions for both silver zeolite (AgZ and Ag-functionalized aerogel. Sorbents, including an engineered form of AgZ and selected metal organic framework materials (MOFs, have been successfully demonstrated to capture Kr and Xe without the need for separations at cryogenic temperatures.

In our country, where natural energy resources such as oil and coal are scarce, it is vital to establish a nuclear fuelcycle to reprocess spent fuel and reuse valuable nuclear fuel in electric power generation reactors. However spent fuel is now being accumulated too much so that, for the time being, it is necessary to establish a system for tentatively storing spent fuel. In this report, in order to deal with these issues, evaluation methods, which were developed, prepared and discussed by Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) and Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI), are rendered together with sample results of their application. Also reported is some important information on the data and methods for the safety assessment of nuclear fuelcycle facilities, which have been surveyed by JAERI and CRIEPI. (author)

Gas turbine, steam turbine and heat engine (Stirling engine) is used as bottoming cycle for a solid oxide fuel cell plant to compare different plants efficiencies, CO2 emissionsand plants cost in terms of $/kW. Each plant is then integrated with biomass gasification and finally six plants...... configurations are compared with each other. Technoeconomy is used when calculating the cost if the plants. It is found that when a solid oxide fuel cell plant is combined with a gas turbine cycle then the plant efficiency will be the highest one while if a biomass gasification plant is integrated...... with these hybrid cycles then integrated biomass gasification with solid oxide fuel cell and steam cycle will have the highest plant efficiency. The cost of solid oxide fuel cell with steam plant is found to be the lowest one with a value of about 1030$/kW....

Comparison of the impacts of various nuclear fuelcycle alternatives includes the evaluation of the radiological impacts. To evaluate the radiological impacts of fuelcycle alternatives, exposure to man must first be identified. The pathways of consequence by which man can be exposed to radiation from a nuclear facility are listed and are grouped into those associated with gaseous effluents, those associated with liquid effluents, and those involving exposure to direct radiation from the facility or from transportation of radioactive materials to or from the facility. Calculations for each pathway were made for those selected organs which could potentially receive the highest radiation dose. Some of the programs developed for calculating radiation doses from radionuclides in the environment are described. (CH)

This report presents the current status and projections through 2015 of nuclear capacity, generation, and fuelcycle requirements for all countries using nuclear power to generate electricity for commercial use. It also contains information and forecasts of developments in the worldwide nuclear fuel market. Long term projections of U.S. nuclear capacity, generation, and spent fuel discharges for two different scenarios through 2040 are developed. A discussion on decommissioning of nuclear power plants is included.

This work introduces automated optimization into fuelcycle simulations in the Cyclus platform. This includes system-level optimizations, seeking a deployment plan that optimizes the performance over the entire transition, and market-level optimization, seeking an optimal set of material trades at each time step. These concepts were introduced in a way that preserves the flexibility of the Cyclus fuelcycle framework, one of its most important design principles.

A study was conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to evaluate the role of thorium fuelcycles in power reactors. Three thermal reactor systems were considered: Light Water Reactors (LWRs); High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors (HTGRs); and Heavy Water Reactors (HWRs) of the Canadian Deuterium Uranium Reactor (CANDU) type; most of the effort was on these systems. A summary comparing thorium and uranium fuelcycles in Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) was also compiled.

A novel synergistic approach to reducing emissions from residential wood combustion (RWC) is presented. Wood energy fuelcycle optimization (FCO) aims to provide cleaner burning fuels through optimization of forestry and renewable energy management practices. In this work, beech and spruce forests of average and high quality were modelled and analysed to determine the volume of fuel wood and its associated bark fraction produced during typical forestry cycles. Two separate fuel wood bark production regimes were observed for beech trees, while only one production regime was observed for spruce. The single tree and stand models were combined with existing thinning parameters to replicate existing management practices. Utilizing estimates of initial seedling numbers and existing thinning patterns a dynamic model was formed that responded to changes in thinning practices. By varying the thinning parameters, this model enabled optimization of the forestry practices for the reduction of bark impurities in the fuel wood supply chain. Beech forestry cycles responded well to fuelcycle optimization with volume reductions of bark from fuel wood of between ˜10% and ˜20% for average and high quality forest stands. Spruce, on the other hand, was fairly insensitive to FCO with bark reductions of 0-5%. The responsiveness of beech to FCO further supports its status as the preferred RWC fuel in Switzerland. FCO could easily be extended beyond Switzerland and applied across continental Europe and North America.

Full Text Available An economic analysis has been performed to compare four nuclear fuelcycle options: a once-through cycle (OT, DUPIC recycling, thermal recycling using MOX fuel in a pressurized water reactor (PWR-MOX, and sodium fast reactor recycling employing pyroprocessing (Pyro-SFR. This comparison was made to suggest an economic competitive fuelcycle for the Republic of Korea. The fuelcycle cost (FCC has been calculated based on the equilibrium material flows integrated with the unit cost of the fuelcycle components. The levelized fuelcycle costs (LFCC have been derived in terms of mills/kWh for a fair comparison among the FCCs, and the results are as follows: OT 7.35 mills/kWh, DUPIC 9.06 mills/kWh, PUREX-MOX 8.94 mills/kWh, and Pyro-SFR 7.70 mills/kWh. Due to unavoidable uncertainties, a cost range has been applied to each unit cost, and an uncertainty study has been performed accordingly. A sensitivity analysis has also been carried out to obtain the break-even uranium price (215$/kgU for the Pyro-SFR against the OT, which demonstrates that the deployment of the Pyro-SFR may be economical in the foreseeable future. The influence of pyrotechniques on the LFCC has also been studied to determine at which level the potential advantages of Pyro-SFR can be realized.

This Fact Book has been compiled in an effort to provide (1) an overview of worldwide nuclear power and fuelcycle programs and (2) current data concerning fuelcycle and waste management facilities, R and D programs, and key personnel in countries other than the United States. Additional information on each country's program is available in the International Source Book: Nuclear FuelCycle Research and Development, PNL-2478, Rev. 2. The Fact Book is organized as follows: (1) Overview section - summary tables which indicate national involvement in nuclear reactor, fuelcycle, and waste management development activities; (2) national summaries - a section for each country which summarizes nuclear policy, describes organizational relationships and provides addresses, names of key personnel, and facilities information; (3) international agencies - a section for each of the international agencies which has significant fuelcycle involvement; (4) energy supply and demand - summary tables, including nuclear power projections; (5) fuelcycle - summary tables; and (6) travel aids - international dialing instructions, international standard time chart, passport and visa requirements, and currency exchange rate.

This Fact Book has been compiled in an effort to provide: (1) an overview of worldwide nuclear power and fuelcycle programs; and (2) current data concerning fuelcycle and waste management facilities, R and D programs, and key personnel in countries other than the United States. Additional information on each country's program is available in the International Source Book: Nuclear FuelCycle Research and Development, PNL-2478, Rev. 2. The Fact Book is organized as follows: (1) Overview section - summary tables which indicate national involvement in nuclear reactor, fuelcycle, and waste management development activities; (2) national summaries - a section for each country which summarizes nuclear policy, describes organizational relationships and provides addresses, names of key personnel, and facilities information; (3) international agencies - a section for each of the international agencies which has significant fuelcycle involvement; (4) energy supply and demand - summary tables, including nuclear power projections; (5) fuelcycle - summary tables; and (6) travel aids international dialing instructions, international standard time chart, passport and visa requirements, and currency exchange rate.

facility, DECON requires that contaminated components either be: (1) decontaminated to restricted or unrestricted release levels or (2) packaged and shipped to an authorized disposal site. This study considers unrestricted release only. The new decommissioning criteria of July 1997 are too recent for this study to include a cost analysis of the restricted release option, which is now allowed under these new criteria. The costs of decommissioning facility components are generally estimated to be in the range of $140 to $27,000, depending on the type of component, the type and amount of radioactive contamination, the remediation options chosen, and the quantity of radioactive waste generated from decommissioning operations. Estimated costs for decommissioning the example laboratories range from $130,000 to $205,000, assuming aggressive low-level waste (LLW) volume reduction. If only minimal LLW volume reduction is employed, decommissioning costs range from $150,000 to $270,000 for these laboratories. On the basis of estimated decommissioning costs for facility components, the costs of decommissioning typical non-fuel-cycle laboratory facilities are estimated to range from about $25,000 for the decommissioning of a small room containing one or two fume hoods to more than $1 million for the decommissioning of an industrial plant containing several laboratories in which radiochemicals and sealed radioactive sources are prepared. For the reference sites of this study, the basic decommissioning alternatives are: (1) site stabilization followed by long-term care and (2) removal of the waste or contaminated soil to an authorized disposal site. Cost estimates made for decommissioning three reference sites range from about $130,000 for the removal of a contaminated drain line and hold-up tank to more than $23 million for the removal of a tailings pile that contains radioactive residue from ore-processing operations in which tin slag is processed for the recovery of rare metals. Total

This report examines backup power and prime power systems and addresses the potential energy and environmental effects of substituting fuel cells for existing combustion technologies based on microturbines and internal combustion engines.

Many nuclear fuelcycle simulators have evolved over time to help understan the nuclear industry/ecosystem at a macroscopic level. Cyclus is one of th first fuelcycle simulators to accommodate larger-scale analysis with it liberal open-source licensing and first-class Linux support. Cyclus also ha features that uniquely enable investigating the effects of modeling choices o fuelcycle simulators and scenarios. This work is divided into thre experiments focusing on optimization, effects of modeling choices, and fue cycle uncertainty. Effective optimization techniques are developed for automatically determinin desirable facility deployment schedules with Cyclus. A novel method fo mapping optimization variables to deployment schedules is developed. Thi allows relationships between reactor types and scenario constraints to b represented implicitly in the variable definitions enabling the usage o optimizers lacking constraint support. It also prevents wasting computationa resources evaluating infeasible deployment schedules. Deployed power capacit over time and deployment of non-reactor facilities are also included a optimization variables There are many fuelcycle simulators built with different combinations o modeling choices. Comparing results between them is often difficult. Cyclus flexibility allows comparing effects of many such modeling choices. Reacto refueling cycle synchronization and inter-facility competition among othe effects are compared in four cases each using combinations of fleet of individually modeled reactors with 1-month or 3-month time steps. There are noticeable differences in results for the different cases. The larges differences occur during periods of constrained reactor fuel availability This and similar work can help improve the quality of fuelcycle analysi generally There is significant uncertainty associated deploying new nuclear technologie such as time-frames for technology availability and the cost of buildin advanced reactors

The fuel-cycle energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the application of fuel cells to distributed power generation were evaluated and compared with the combustion technologies of microturbines and internal combustion engines, as well as the various technologies associated with grid-electricity generation in the United States and California. The results were primarily impacted by the net electrical efficiency of the power generation technologies and the type of employed fuels. The energy use and GHG emissions associated with the electric power generation represented the majority of the total energy use of the fuelcycle and emissions for all generation pathways. Fuel cell technologies exhibited lower GHG emissions than those associated with the U.S. grid electricity and other combustion technologies. The higher-efficiency fuel cells, such as the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), exhibited lower energy requirements than those for combustion generators. The dependence of all natural-gas-based technologies on petroleum oil was lower than that of internal combustion engines using petroleum fuels. Most fuel cell technologies approaching or exceeding the DOE target efficiency of 40% offered significant reduction in energy use and GHG emissions.

A study was conducted to identify major legal and institutional problems and issues in the transportation of spent fuel and associated processing wastes at the back end of the LWR nuclear fuelcycle. (Most of the discussion centers on the transportation of spent fuel, since this activity will involve virtually all of the legal and institutional problems likely to be encountered in moving waste materials, as well.) Actions or approaches that might be pursued to resolve the problems identified in the analysis are suggested. Two scenarios for the industrial-scale transportation of spent fuel and radioactive wastes, taken together, high-light most of the major problems and issues of a legal and institutional nature that are likely to arise: (1) utilizing the Allied General Nuclear Services (AGNS) facility at Barnwell, SC, as a temporary storage facility for spent fuel; and (2) utilizing AGNS for full-scale commercial reprocessing of spent LWR fuel.

This report gives tabulations of the atomic and nuclear radiations emitted by 240 radionuclides. Most of the radionuclides are those expected to occur in routine releases of effluents from nuclear fuelcycle facilities. For each radionuclide are given the half-life and recommended values for the energies, intensities, and equilibrium absorbed-dose constants for each of the atomic and nuclear radiations. Also given are the daughter radionuclides produced and recommended values for decay branching ratios, where applicable. The radioactivity decay chains and branching ratios are displayed in diagram form.

This analysis report presents the current status and projections of nuclear capacity, generation, and fuelcycle requirements for all countries in the world using nuclear power to generate electricity for commercial use. Long-term projections of US nuclear capacity, generation, fuelcycle requirements, and spent fuel discharges for three different scenarios through 2030 are provided in support of the Department of Energy`s activities pertaining to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (as amended in 1987). The projections of uranium requirements also support the Energy Information Administration`s annual report, Domestic Uranium Mining and Milling Industry: Viability Assessment.

Environmental effluents that may be associated with the fusion fuelcycle are identified. Existing standards for controlling their release are summarized and anticipated regulatory changes are identified. The ability of existing and planned environmental control technology to limit effluent releases to acceptable levels is evaluated. Reference tokamak fusion system concepts are described and the principal materials required of the associated fuelcycle are analyzed. These materials include the fusion fuels deuterium and tritium; helium, which is used as a coolant for both the blanket and superconducting magnets; lithium and beryllium used in the blanket; and niobium used in the magnets. The chemical and physical processes used to prepare these materials are also described.

Plant characteristics of a system containing a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cycle on the top of a Rankine cycle were investigated. Natural gas (NG) was used as the fuel for the plant. A desulfurization reactor removes the sulfur content in the fuel, while a pre-reformer broke down the heavier...... hydrocarbons in an adiabatic steam reformer (ASR). The pre-treated fuel then entered to the anode side of the SOFC. The remaining fuels after the SOFC stacks entered a catalytic burner for further combusting. The burned gases from the burner were then used to produce steam for the Rankine cycle in a heat...... recovery steam generator (HRSG). The remaining energy of the off-gases was recycled back to the topping cycle for further utilization. Several parameter studies were carried out to investigate the sensitivity of the suggested plant. It was shown that the operation temperature of the desulfurization unit...

Key technologies for the future nuclear fuelcycle have been proposed and are being reviewed in JNC as a part of the Feasibility Study for an Advanced FuelCycle, which is to achieve a more flexible energy choice to satisfy a sustainable energy security and global environmental protection. The candidate reprocessing technologies are: 1) aqueous simplified PUREX process, 2) oxide or metallic electrowinning, and 3) fluoride volatilization for oxide, metal, or nitride fuels. The fuel fabrication methods being investigated are: 1) simplified pellet process, 2) sphere/vibro-packed process for MOX/MN fuel, and 3) casting for metal fuel. These candidate technologies are currently being compared based on past experiences, technical issues to be solved, industrial applicability for future plants, feasible options for MA/LLFP separation, and nonproliferation aspects. Alter two years of the present reviewing process, selected key technologies will be developed over the next five years to evaluate industrial applicability of reprocessing and fuel manufacturing processes for the advanced fuelcycle. (authors)

Nuclear energy needs to guarantee four important issues to be successful as a sustainable energy source: nuclear safety, economic competitiveness, proliferation resistance and a minimal production of radioactive waste. Pebble bed reactors (PBR), which are very high temperature systems together with fuelcycles based in Thorium, they could offer the opportunity to meet the sustainability demands. Thorium is a potentially valuable energy source since it is about three to four times as abundant as Uranium. It is also a widely distributed natural resource readily accessible in many countries. This paper shows the main advantages of the use of a hybrid system formed by a Pebble Bed critical nuclear reactor and two Pebble Bed Accelerator Driven Systems (ADSs) using a variety of fuelcycles with Thorium (Th+U{sup 233}, Th+Pu{sup 239} and Th+U). The parameters related to the neutronic behavior like deep burn, nuclear fuel breeding, Minor Actinide stockpile, power density profiles and other are used to compare the fuelcycles using the well-known MCNPX computational code. (author)

The development of new fuel alloys could provide a good opportunity to improve drastically the fuelcycle on the neutronic performances and the reprocessing point of view. Nevertheless, those parameters can only be considered if the fuel manufacture feasibility has been previously demonstrated. As a matter of fact, a MTR work group involving French partners (CEA, CERCA, COGEMA) has been set up in order to evaluate the technical ability of new fuels considering the whole fuelcycle. In this paper CERCA is presenting the preliminary results of UMo and UNbZr fuel plate manufacture, CEA is comparing to U{sub 3}Si{sub 2} the neutronic performances of fuels such as UMo, UN, UNbZr, while COGEMA is dealing with the reprocessing feasibility. (author)

Full Text Available In 2013, the Spanish government created two new taxes on used nuclear fuel. This article aims to present the results of an economic study carried out to compare the costs of long-term storage of used nuclear fuel –open cycle strategy–, with the cost of the strategy of reprocessing and recycling used fuel– closed cycle strategy– taking into account the impact of the new taxes on the global cost of the fuelcycle. The results show that the costs of open-cycle and closed-cycle spent fuel management, evaluated in Spain after the introduction of the taxes, are sufficiently similar (within the bounds of uncertainty, that the choice between both is predicated on other than purely economic criteria.

All mass streams from fuel separation and fabrication are products that must meet some set of product criteria – fuel feedstock impurity limits, waste acceptance criteria (WAC), material storage (if any), or recycle material purity requirements such as zirconium for cladding or lanthanides for industrial use. These must be considered in a systematic and comprehensive way. The FIT model and the “system losses study” team that developed it [Shropshire2009, Piet2010] are an initial step by the FCR&D program toward a global analysis that accounts for the requirements and capabilities of each component, as well as major material flows within an integrated fuelcycle. This will help the program identify near-term R&D needs and set longer-term goals. The question originally posed to the “system losses study” was the cost of separation, fuel fabrication, waste management, etc. versus the separation efficiency. In other words, are the costs associated with marginal reductions in separations losses (or improvements in product recovery) justified by the gains in the performance of other systems? We have learned that that is the wrong question. The right question is: how does one adjust the compositions and quantities of all mass streams, given uncertain product criteria, to balance competing objectives including cost? FIT is a method to analyze different fuelcycles using common bases to determine how chemical performance changes in one part of a fuelcycle (say used fuel cooling times or separation efficiencies) affect other parts of the fuelcycle. FIT estimates impurities in fuel and waste via a rough estimate of physics and mass balance for a set of technologies. If feasibility is an issue for a set, as it is for “minimum fuel treatment” approaches such as melt refining and AIROX, it can help to make an estimate of how performances would have to change to achieve feasibility.

All mass streams from fuel separation and fabrication are products that must meet some set of product criteria – fuel feedstock impurity limits, waste acceptance criteria (WAC), material storage (if any), or recycle material purity requirements such as zirconium for cladding or lanthanides for industrial use. These must be considered in a systematic and comprehensive way. The FIT model and the “system losses study” team that developed it [Shropshire2009, Piet2010] are an initial step by the FCR&D program toward a global analysis that accounts for the requirements and capabilities of each component, as well as major material flows within an integrated fuelcycle. This will help the program identify near-term R&D needs and set longer-term goals. The question originally posed to the “system losses study” was the cost of separation, fuel fabrication, waste management, etc. versus the separation efficiency. In other words, are the costs associated with marginal reductions in separations losses (or improvements in product recovery) justified by the gains in the performance of other systems? We have learned that that is the wrong question. The right question is: how does one adjust the compositions and quantities of all mass streams, given uncertain product criteria, to balance competing objectives including cost? FIT is a method to analyze different fuelcycles using common bases to determine how chemical performance changes in one part of a fuelcycle (say used fuel cooling times or separation efficiencies) affect other parts of the fuelcycle. FIT estimates impurities in fuel and waste via a rough estimate of physics and mass balance for a set of technologies. If feasibility is an issue for a set, as it is for “minimum fuel treatment” approaches such as melt refining and AIROX, it can help to make an estimate of how performances would have to change to achieve feasibility.

Highlights: • Particle swarm method has been developed for fuelcycle optimization of PBR reactor. • Results show uranium utilization low sensitivity to fuel and core design parameters. • Multi-zone fuel loading pattern leads to a small improvement in uranium utilization. • Thorium mixes with highly enriched uranium yields the best uranium utilization. - Abstract: Pebble bed reactors (PBR) features, such as robust thermo-mechanical fuel design and on-line continuous fueling, facilitate wide range of fuelcycle alternatives. A range off fuel pebble types, containing different amounts of fertile or fissile fuel material, may be loaded into the reactor core. Several fuel loading zones may be used since radial mixing of the pebbles was shown to be limited. This radial separation suggests the possibility to implement the “seed-blanket” concept for the utilization of fertile fuels such as thorium, and for enhancing reactor fuel utilization. In this study, the particle-swarm meta-heuristic evolutionary optimization method (PSO) has been used to find optimal fuelcycle design which yields the highest natural uranium utilization. The PSO method is known for solving efficiently complex problems with non-linear objective function, continuous or discrete parameters and complex constrains. The VSOP system of codes has been used for PBR fuel utilization calculations and MATLAB script has been used to implement the PSO algorithm. Optimization of PBR natural uranium utilization (NUU) has been carried out for 3000 MWth High Temperature Reactor design (HTR) operating on the Once Trough Then Out (OTTO) fuel management scheme, and for 400 MWth Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) operating on the multi-pass (MEDUL) fuel management scheme. Results showed only a modest improvement in the NUU (<5%) over reference designs. Investigation of thorium fuel cases showed that the use of HEU in combination with thorium results in the most favorable reactor performance in terms of

Full Text Available The CYCLE code is intended to simulate mathematically the operation of a nuclear power system (NPS with thermal and fast reactors in an open or closed nuclear fuelcycle, to develop scenarios of efficient nuclear power evolution in Russia and to analyze trends in global nuclear power. The code is based on a well-known software program, WIMSD-5B, broadly used for the design of thermal reactor cells, and on a 2D multi-group software system, RZA, for the fast neutron reactor simulation. The CYCLE code was developed at IPPE in Obninsk. This paper presents a brief review of the capabilities and information on the current status of the CYCLE code. The code allows simulation of key facilities of the external fuelcycle (fuel fabrication and reprocessing facilities, SNF storage, uranium, plutonium, neptunium, americium and curium stores, RW long-term storage sites, nuclear reactors, including RBMK-1000 reactors, existing and advanced VVER reactors (using different fuel types, and fast reactors (both existing and innovative. As an important feature, the CYCLE code allows the evolution of the fuel's nuclide composition both in reactors and at the external fuelcycle phase to be considered in details. Offered as an extra option is the capability to calculate a variety of the nuclear fuelcycle cost parameters for nuclear power plants with thermal and fast reactors. For years, the code has been successfully used as part of INPRO, an international innovative nuclear reactor and fuelcycle project. The results of studies into the Russian NPS evolution scenarios were presented at Global 2011. Some other of the CYCLE-based simulation results were presented at Global 2015.

The goal of this project, “ORIGEN-based Nuclear Fuel Depletion Module for FuelCycle Assessment" is to create a physics-based reactor depletion and decay module for the Cyclus nuclear fuelcycle simulator in order to assess nuclear fuel inventories over a broad space of reactor operating conditions. The overall goal of this approach is to facilitate evaluations of nuclear fuel inventories for a broad space of scenarios, including extended used nuclear fuel storage and cascading impacts on fuelcycle options such as actinide recovery in used nuclear fuel, particularly for multiple recycle scenarios. The advantages of a physics-based approach (compared to a recipe-based approach which has been typically employed for fuelcycle simulators) is in its inherent flexibility; such an approach can more readily accommodate the broad space of potential isotopic vectors that may be encountered under advanced fuelcycle options. In order to develop this flexible reactor analysis capability, we are leveraging the Origen nuclear fuel depletion and decay module from SCALE to produce a standalone “depletion engine” which will serve as the kernel of a Cyclus-based reactor analysis module. The ORIGEN depletion module is a rigorously benchmarked and extensively validated tool for nuclear fuel analysis and thus its incorporation into the Cyclus framework can bring these capabilities to bear on the problem of evaluating long-term impacts of fuelcycle option choices on relevant metrics of interest, including materials inventories and availability (for multiple recycle scenarios), long-term waste management and repository impacts, etc. Developing this Origen-based analysis capability for Cyclus requires the refinement of the Origen analysis sequence to the point where it can reasonably be compiled as a standalone sequence outside of SCALE; i.e., wherein all of the computational aspects of Origen (including reactor cross-section library processing and interpolation, input and output

A conceptual analysis was carried out on the size of a high-level wastes (HLW) repository for the waste arising from once-through and closed fuelcycles with (HLW) and PWR. The mass, the activity and thermal loading was calculated with the ORIGEN2.1 computer code for the spent fuel and for the high-level liquid wastes. It was considered a minimum burnup of 7.000 MW.d/t U and 33.000 MW.d/t U for HWR and PWR respectively, cooling times of 20 and 55 years, reprocessing recovery ratios of 99% and 99.7% and a total electricity production of 81.6 GW(e).a. It was concluded that the cooling time is the most important repository size reproduction parameter for the closed cycles. On the other hand, the spent fuel mass for the once-through cycles does not depend on the cooling time what prevents repository size reduction once a cooling time of 55 years is reached. The repository size reduction in the case of HWR is larger than in the case of PWR, owing to the larger fuel mass required to produce the specific electricity amount. (author)

Thorium has been widely considered an alternative to uranium fuel because of its relatively large natural abundance and its ability to breed fissile fuel (233U) from natural thorium (232Th). Possible scenarios for using thorium in the nuclear fuelcycle include use in different nuclear reactor types (light water, high temperature gas cooled, fast spectrum sodium, molten salt, etc.), advanced accelerator-driven systems, or even fission-fusion hybrid systems. The most likely near-term application of thorium in the United States is in currently operating light water reactors (LWRs). This use is primarily based on concepts that mix thorium with uranium (UO2 + ThO2), add fertile thorium (ThO2) fuel pins to LWR fuel assemblies, or use mixed plutonium and thorium (PuO2 + ThO2) fuel assemblies. The addition of thorium to currently operating LWRs would result in a number of different phenomenological impacts on the nuclear fuel. Thorium and its irradiation products have nuclear characteristics that are different from those of uranium. In addition, ThO2, alone or mixed with UO2 fuel, leads to different chemical and physical properties of the fuel. These aspects are key to reactor safety-related issues. The primary objectives of this report are to summarize historical, current, and proposed uses of thorium in nuclear reactors; provide some important properties of thorium fuel; perform qualitative and quantitative evaluations of both in-reactor and out-of-reactor safety issues and requirements specific to a thorium-based fuelcycle for current LWR reactor designs; and identify key knowledge gaps and technical issues that need to be addressed for the licensing of thorium LWR fuel in the United States.

This report overviews crosscutting regulatory topics for nuclear fuelcycle facilities for use in the FuelCycle Research & Development Nuclear FuelCycle Evaluation and Screening study. In particular, the regulatory infrastructure and analysis capability is assessed for the following topical areas: Fire Regulations (i.e., how applicable are current Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and/or International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) fire regulations to advance fuelcycle facilities) Consequence Assessment (i.e., how applicable are current radionuclide transportation tools to support risk-informed regulations and Level 2 and/or 3 PRA) While not addressed in detail, the following regulatory topic is also discussed: Integrated Security, Safeguard and Safety Requirement (i.e., how applicable are current Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations to future fuelcycle facilities which will likely be required to balance the sometimes conflicting Material Accountability, Security, and Safety requirements.)

Nitrates and radioactive heavy metals need to be removed from aqueous effluent streams in the fuelcycle. Biological methods are being developed for reducing nitrate or nitrite to N/sub 2/ gas and for decreasing dissolved metal concentration to less than 1 g/m/sup 3/. Fluidized-bed denitrification bioreactors are being tested. Removal of uranium from solution by Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was studied. (DLC)

Two innovative thermodynamic power cycles are analytically examined for future engineering feasibility. The power cycles use a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell for electrical energy production and use the thermal dissociation of water for regeneration of the hydrogen and oxygen. The TDS (thermal dissociation system) uses a thermal energy input at over 2000 K to thermally dissociate the water. The other cycle, the HTE (high temperature electrolyzer) system, dissociates the water using an electrolyzer operating at high temperature (1300 K) which receives its electrical energy from the fuel cell. The primary advantages of these cycles is that they are basically a no moving parts system, thus having the potential for long life and high reliability, and they have the potential for high thermal efficiency. Both cycles are shown to be classical heat engines with ideal efficiency close to Carnot cycle efficiency. The feasibility of constructing actual cycles is investigated by examining process irreversibilities and device efficiencies for the two types of cycles. The results show that while the processes and devices of the 2000 K TDS exceed current technology limits, the high temperature electrolyzer system appears to be a state-of-the-art technology development. The requirements for very high electrolyzer and fuel cell efficiencies are seen as determining the feasbility of the HTE system, and these high efficiency devices are currently being developed. It is concluded that a proof-of-concept HTE system experiment can and should be conducted.

We examine the life cycles of gasoline, diesel, compressed natural gas (CNG), and ethanol (C2H5OH)-fueled internal combustion engine (ICE) automobiles. Port and direct injection and spark and compression ignition engines are examined. We investigate diesel fuel from both petroleum and biosources as well as C2H5OH from corn, herbaceous bio-mass, and woody biomass. The baseline vehicle is a gasoline-fueled 1998 Ford Taurus. We optimize the other fuel/powertrain combinations for each specific fuel as a part of making the vehicles comparable to the baseline in terms of range, emissions level, and vehicle lifetime. Life-cycle calculations are done using the economic input-output life-cycle analysis (EIO-LCA) software; fuelcycles and vehicle end-of-life stages are based on published model results. We find that recent advances in gasoline vehicles, the low petroleum price, and the extensive gasoline infrastructure make it difficult for any alternative fuel to become commercially viable. The most attractive alternative fuel is compressed natural gas because it is less expensive than gasoline, has lower regulated pollutant and toxics emissions, produces less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and is available in North America in large quantities. However, the bulk and weight of gas storage cylinders required for the vehicle to attain a range comparable to that of gasoline vehicles necessitates a redesign of the engine and chassis. Additional natural gas transportation and distribution infrastructure is required for large-scale use of natural gas for transportation. Diesel engines are extremely attractive in terms of energy efficiency, but expert judgment is divided on whether these engines will be able to meet strict emissions standards, even with reformulated fuel. The attractiveness of direct injection engines depends on their being able to meet strict emissions standards without losing their greater efficiency. Biofuels offer lower GHG emissions, are sustainable, and

With the prospect of rapid expansion of the nuclear energy industry and the ongoing concern over weapons proliferation, there is a growing need for a viable alternative to traditional nation-based fuel production facilities. While some in the international community remain apprehensive, the advantages of multinational fuelcycle facilities are becoming increasingly apparent, with states on both sides of the supply chain able to garner the security and financial benefits of such facilities. Proliferation risk is minimized by eliminating the need of states to establish indigenous fuel production capabilities and the concept's structure provides an additional internationally monitored barrier against the misuse or diversion of nuclear materials. This article gives a brief description of the arguments for and against the implementation of a complete multinational fuelcycle.

High neutron economy, on line refueling and channel design result in the unsurpassed fuelcycle flexibility and variety for CANDU reactors. According to the Chinese national conditions that China has both PWR and CANDU reactors and the closed cycle policy of reprocessing the spent PWR fuel is adopted, one of the advanced nuclear fuelcycles of PWR/CANDU synergism using the reprocessed uranium of spent PWR fuel in CANDU reactor is proposed, which will save the uranium resource (～22.5%), increase the energy output (～41%), decrease the quantity of spent fuels to be disposed (～2/3) and lower the cost of nuclear power. Because of the inherent flexibility of nuclear fuelcycle in CANDU reactor, and the low radiation level of recycled uranium(RU), which is acceptable for CANDU reactor fuel fabrication, the transition from the natural uranium to the RU can be completed without major modification of the reactor core structure and operation mode. It can be implemented in Qinshan Phase Ⅲ CANDU reactors with little or no requirement of big investment in new design. It can be expected that the reuse of recycled uranium of spent PWR fuel in CANDU reactor is a feasible and desirable strategy in China.

The Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) model, developed at Argonne National Laboratory, has been expanded to include well-to-wake (WTWa) analysis of aviation fuels and aircraft. This report documents the key WTWa stages and assumptions for fuels that represent alternatives to petroleum jet fuel. The aviation module in GREET consists of three spreadsheets that present detailed characterizations of well-to-pump and pump-to-wake parameters and WTWa results. By using the expanded GREET version (GREET1{_}2011), we estimate WTWa results for energy use (total, fossil, and petroleum energy) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) for (1) each unit of energy (lower heating value) consumed by the aircraft or (2) each unit of distance traveled/ payload carried by the aircraft. The fuel pathways considered in this analysis include petroleum-based jet fuel from conventional and unconventional sources (i.e., oil sands); Fisher-Tropsch (FT) jet fuel from natural gas, coal, and biomass; bio-jet fuel from fast pyrolysis of cellulosic biomass; and bio-jet fuel from vegetable and algal oils, which falls under the American Society for Testing and Materials category of hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids. For aircraft operation, we considered six passenger aircraft classes and four freight aircraft classes in this analysis. Our analysis revealed that, depending on the feedstock source, the fuel conversion technology, and the allocation or displacement credit methodology applied to co-products, alternative bio-jet fuel pathways have the potential to reduce life-cycle GHG emissions by 55-85 percent compared with conventional (petroleum-based) jet fuel. Although producing FT jet fuel from fossil feedstock sources - such as natural gas and coal - could greatly reduce dependence on crude oil, production from such sources (especially coal) produces greater WTWa GHG emissions compared with petroleum jet

The Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) model, developed at Argonne National Laboratory, has been expanded to include well-to-wake (WTWa) analysis of aviation fuels and aircraft. This report documents the key WTWa stages and assumptions for fuels that represent alternatives to petroleum jet fuel. The aviation module in GREET consists of three spreadsheets that present detailed characterizations of well-to-pump and pump-to-wake parameters and WTWa results. By using the expanded GREET version (GREET1_2011), we estimate WTWa results for energy use (total, fossil, and petroleum energy) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) for (1) each unit of energy (lower heating value) consumed by the aircraft or(2) each unit of distance traveled/ payload carried by the aircraft. The fuel pathways considered in this analysis include petroleum-based jet fuel from conventional and unconventional sources (i.e., oil sands); Fisher-Tropsch (FT) jet fuel from natural gas, coal, and biomass; bio-jet fuel from fast pyrolysis of cellulosic biomass; and bio-jet fuel from vegetable and algal oils, which falls under the American Society for Testing and Materials category of hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids. For aircraft operation, we considered six passenger aircraft classes and four freight aircraft classes in this analysis. Our analysis revealed that, depending on the feedstock source, the fuel conversion technology, and the allocation or displacement credit methodology applied to co-products, alternative bio-jet fuel pathways have the potential to reduce life-cycle GHG emissions by 55–85 percent compared with conventional (petroleum-based) jet fuel. Although producing FT jet fuel from fossil feedstock sources — such as natural gas and coal — could greatly reduce dependence on crude oil, production from such sources (especially coal) produces greater WTWa GHG emissions compared with petroleum jet

The purpose of this Software Platform Evaluation (SPE) is to document the top-level evaluation of potential software platforms on which to construct a simulation model that satisfies the requirements for a Verifiable FuelCycle Simulation Model (VISION) of the Advanced FuelCycle (AFC). See the Software Requirements Specification for Verifiable FuelCycle Simulation (VISION) Model (INEEL/EXT-05-02643, Rev. 0) for a discussion of the objective and scope of the VISION model. VISION is intended to serve as a broad systems analysis and study tool applicable to work conducted as part of the AFCI (including costs estimates) and Generation IV reactor development studies. This document will serve as a guide for selecting the most appropriate software platform for VISION. This is a “living document” that will be modified over the course of the execution of this work.

As the US Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE contractors have become increasingly involved with other nations in nuclear fuelcycle and waste management cooperative activities, a need exists costs for a ready source of information concerning foreign fuelcycle programs, facilities, and personnel. This Fact Book has been compiled to meet that need. The information contained in the International Nuclear FuelCycle Fact Book has been obtained from many unclassified sources: nuclear trade journals and newsletters; reports of foreign visits and visitors; CEC, IAEA, and OECD/NMEA activities reports; and proceedings of conferences and workshops. The data listed typically do not reflect any single source but frequently represent a consolidation/combination of information.

As the US Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE contractors have become increasingly involved with other nations in nuclear fuelcycle and waste management cooperative activities, a need has developed for a ready source of information concerning foreign fuelcycle programs, facilities, and personnel. This Fact Book was compiled to meet that need. The information contained has been obtained from nuclear trade journals and newsletters; reports of foreign visits and visitors; CEC, IAEA, and OECD/NEA activities reports; proceedings of conferences and workshops; and so forth. Sources do not agree completely with each other, and the data listed herein does not reflect any one single source but frequently is a consolidation/combination of information. Lack of space as well as the intent and purpose of the Fact Book limit the given information to that pertaining to the Nuclear FuelCycle and to data considered of primary interest or most helpful to the majority of users.

The International Nuclear FuelCycle Fact Book has been compiled in an effort to provide current data concerning fuelcycle and waste management facilities, R and D programs and key personnel. The Fact Book contains: national summaries in which a section for each country which summarizes nuclear policy, describes organizational relationships and provides addresses, names of key personnel, and facilities information; and international agencies in which a section for each of the international agencies which has significant fuelcycle involvement, and a listing of nuclear societies. The national summaries, in addition to the data described above, feature a small map for each country as well as some general information. The latter is presented from the perspective of the Fact Book user in the United States.

Hydrogen has received considerable attention as an alternative to fossil fuels. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) investigates the technical and economic feasibility of promising new technologies, such as hydrogen fuel cells. A recent report for DOE identified three near-term markets for fuel cells: (1) Emergency power for state and local emergency response agencies, (2) Forklifts in warehousing and distribution centers, and (3) Airport ground support equipment markets. This report examines forklift propulsion systems and addresses the potential energy and environmental implications of substituting fuel-cell propulsion for existing technologies based on batteries and fossil fuels. Industry data and the Argonne Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model are used to estimate full fuel-cycle emissions and use of primary energy sources, back to the primary feedstocks for fuel production. Also considered are other environmental concerns at work locations. The benefits derived from using fuel-cell propulsion are determined by the sources of electricity and hydrogen. In particular, fuel-cell forklifts using hydrogen made from the reforming of natural gas had lower impacts than those using hydrogen from electrolysis.

This document presents life cycle costs for a low-level radioactive disposal facility and a comparable assured isolation facility. Cost projections were based on general plans and assumptions, including volume projections and operating life, provided by the Connecticut Hazardous Waste Management Service, for a facility designed to meet the State`s needs. Life cycle costs include the costs of pre-construction activities, construction, operations, closure, and post-closure institutional control. In order to provide a better basis for understanding the relative magnitude of near-term costs and future costs, the results of present value analysis of ut-year costs are provided.

An important long-term objective of advanced nuclear fuelcycle (AFC) technologies is to provide improvement in the long-term management of radioactive waste. Compared to a once-thru fuelcycle, it is possible to generate far less waste, and potentially easier waste to manage, with advanced fuelcycles. However, the precise extent and value of these benefits are complex and difficult to quantify. This document presents a status report of efforts within AFCI Systems Analysis to define and quantify the AFC benefits to geologic disposal, development of cooperative efforts with the US repository program, and participation with international evaluations of AFC impacts on waste management. The primary analysis of repository benefits is conducted by ANL. This year repository impact evaluations have included: (1) Continued evaluation of LWR recycle benefits in support of scenario analysis. (2) Extension of repository analyses to consider long-term dose reductions. (3) Developing the opportunity for cooperation with the U.S. repository program. (4) International cooperation with OECD-NEA.

The state and trends in the development of nuclear fuelcycles in nuclear engineering, taking into account the ecological aspects of using nuclear power plants, are considered. An analysis of advantages and disadvantages of nuclear engineering, compared with thermal engineering based on organic fuel types, was carried out. Spent nuclear fuel (SNF) reprocessing is an important task in the nuclear industry, since fuel unloaded from modern reactors of any type contains a large amount of radioactive elements that are harmful to the environment. On the other hand, the newly generated isotopes of uranium and plutonium should be reused to fabricate new nuclear fuel. The spent nuclear fuel also includes other types of fission products. Conditions for SNF handling are determined by ecological and economic factors. When choosing a certain handling method, one should assess these factors at all stages of its implementation. There are two main methods of SNF handling: open nuclear fuelcycle, with spent nuclear fuel assemblies (NFAs) that are held in storage facilities with their consequent disposal, and closed nuclear fuelcycle, with separation of uranium and plutonium, their purification from fission products, and use for producing new fuel batches. The development of effective closed fuelcycles using mixed uranium-plutonium fuel can provide a successful development of the nuclear industry only under the conditions of implementation of novel effective technological treatment processes that meet strict requirements of environmental safety and reliability of process equipment being applied. The diversity of technological processes is determined by different types of NFA devices and construction materials being used, as well as by the composition that depends on nuclear fuel components and operational conditions for assemblies in the nuclear power reactor. This work provides an overview of technological processes of SNF treatment and methods of handling of nuclear fuel

Radioactive iodine is the Achilles' heel in the design for the safe geological disposal of spent uranium oxide (UO2) nuclear fuel. Furthermore, iodine's high volatility and aqueous solubility were mainly responsible for the high early doses released during the accident at Fukushima Daiichi in 2011. Studies Kienzler et al., however, have indicated that the instant release fraction (IRF) of radioiodine (131/129I) does not correlate directly with increasing fuel burn-up. In fact, there is a peak in the release of iodine at around 50-60 MW d/kgU, and with increasing burn-up, the IRF of 131/129I decreases. The reasons for this decrease have not fully been understood. We have performed microscopic analysis of chemically processed high burn-up UO2 fuel (80 MW d/kgU) and have found recalcitrant nano-particles containing, Pd, Ag, I, and Br, possibly consistent with a high pressure phase of silver iodide in the undissolved residue. It is likely that increased levels of Ag and Pd from 239Pu fission in high burnup fuels leads to the formation of these metal halides. The occurrence of these phases in UO2 nuclear fuels may reduce the impact of long-lived 129I on the repository performance assessment calculations.

With about 50% of power generation in the United States derived from coal and projections indicating that coal will continue to be the primary fuel for power generation in the next two decades, the Department of Energy (DOE) Clean Coal Technology Demonstration Program (CCTDP) has been conducted since 1985 to develop innovative, environmentally friendly processes for the world energy market place. The 2 MW Fuel Cell Demonstration was part of the Kentucky Pioneer Energy (KPE) Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) project selected by DOE under Round Five of the Clean Coal Technology Demonstration Program. The participant in the CCTDP V Project was Kentucky Pioneer Energy for the IGCC plant. FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCE), under subcontract to KPE, was responsible for the design, construction and operation of the 2 MW fuel cell power plant. Duke Fluor Daniel provided engineering design and procurement support for the balance-of-plant skids. Colt Engineering Corporation provided engineering design, fabrication and procurement of the syngas processing skids. Jacobs Applied Technology provided the fabrication of the fuel cell module vessels. Wabash River Energy Ltd (WREL) provided the test site. The 2 MW fuel cell power plant utilizes FuelCell Energy's Direct Fuel Cell (DFC) technology, which is based on the internally reforming carbonate fuel cell. This plant is capable of operating on coal-derived syngas as well as natural gas. Prior testing (1992) of a subscale 20 kW carbonate fuel cell stack at the Louisiana Gasification Technology Inc. (LGTI) site using the Dow/Destec gasification plant indicated that operation on coal derived gas provided normal performance and stable operation. Duke Fluor Daniel and FuelCell Energy developed a commercial plant design for the 2 MW fuel cell. The plant was designed to be modular, factory assembled and truck shippable to the site. Five balance-of-plant skids incorporating fuel processing, anode gas oxidation, heat recovery

The technical status of the old U.S. mailine program for high level radioactive nuclear waste management, and the newly-developing program for disposal of unreprocessed spent fuel was assessed. The method of long term containment for both of these waste forms is considered to be deep geologic isolation in bedded salt. Each major component of both waste management systems is analyzed in terms of its scientific feasibility, technical achievability and engineering achievability. The resulting matrix leads to a systematic identification of major unresolved technical or scientific questions and/or gaps in these programs.

The information in this report summarizes the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) data base for inventories, projections, and characteristics of domestic spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. This report is updated annually to keep abreast of continual waste inventory and projection changes in both the government and commercial sectors. Baseline information is provided for DOE program planning purposes and to support DOE program decisions. Although the primary purpose of this document is to provide background information for program planning within the DOE community, it has also been found useful by state and local governments, the academic community, and some private citizens.

A large amount of corn stover is available in the U.S. corn belt for the potential production of cellulosic bioethanol when the production technology becomes commercially ready. In fact, because corn stover is already available, it could serve as a starting point for producing cellulosic ethanol as a transportation fuel to help reduce the nation's demand for petroleum oil. Using the data available on the collection and transportation of corn stover and on the production of cellulosic ethanol, we have added the corn stover-to-ethanol pathway in the GREET model, a fuel-cycle model developed at Argonne National Laboratory. We then analyzed the life-cycle energy use and emission impacts of corn stover-derived fuel ethanol for use as E85 in flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs). The analysis included fertilizer manufacturing, corn farming, farming machinery manufacturing, stover collection and transportation, ethanol production, ethanol transportation, and ethanol use in light-duty vehicles (LDVs). Energy consumption of petroleum oil and fossil energy, emissions of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide [CO{sub 2}], nitrous oxide [N{sub 2}O], and methane [CH{sub 4}]), and emissions of criteria pollutants (carbon monoxide [CO], volatile organic compounds [VOCs], nitrogen oxide [NO{sub x}], sulfur oxide [SO{sub x}], and particulate matter with diameters smaller than 10 micrometers [PM{sub 10}]) during the fuelcycle were estimated. Scenarios of ethanol from corn grain, corn stover, and other cellulosic feedstocks were then compared with petroleum reformulated gasoline (RFG). Results showed that FFVs fueled with corn stover ethanol blends offer substantial energy savings (94-95%) relative to those fueled with RFG. For each Btu of corn stover ethanol produced and used, 0.09 Btu of fossil fuel is required. The cellulosic ethanol pathway avoids 86-89% of greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike the life cycle of corn grain-based ethanol, in which the ethanol plant consumes most of the fossil

Full Text Available The mixed oxide (MOX fuel is one of the most important fuels for the advanced reactors in the future. It is flexible to be applied either in the thermal reactor like pressurized water reactor (PWR or in the fast reactor (FR. This paper compares the two approaches from the view of fuel cost. Two features are involved. (1 The cost of electricity (COE is investigated based on the simulation of realistic operation of a practical PWR power plant and a typical fast breeder reactor design. (2 A new economic analysis model is established, considering the discount rate and the revenue of the reprocessed plutonium besides the traditional costs in the processes of fuelcycle. The sensitivity of COE to the changing parameters is also analyzed. The results show that, in the closed fuelcycle, the fuel cost of applying MOX fuels in the FBR is about 25% lower than that in the PWR at the current operating and fuelcycle level.

Rising oil costs, global warming, national security concerns, economic concerns and escalating energy demands are forcing the engineering communities to explore methods to address these concerns. It is the intention of this thesis to offer a proposal for a novel design of a combined cycle, an advanced nuclear helium reactor/solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) plant that will help to mitigate some of the above concerns. Moreover, the adoption of this proposal may help to reinvigorate the Nuclear Power industry while providing a practical method to foster the development of a hydrogen economy. Specifically, this thesis concentrates on the importance of the U.S. Nuclear Navy adopting this novel design for its nuclear electric vessels of the future with discussion on efficiency and thermodynamic performance characteristics related to the combined cycle. Thus, the goals and objectives are to develop an innovative combined cycle that provides a solution to the stated concerns and show that it provides superior performance. In order to show performance, it is necessary to develop a rigorous thermodynamic model and computer program to analyze the SOFC in relation with the overall cycle. A large increase in efficiency over the conventional pressurized water reactor cycle is realized. Both sides of the cycle achieve higher efficiencies at partial loads which is extremely important as most naval vessels operate at partial loads as well as the fact that traditional gas turbines operating alone have poor performance at reduced speeds. Furthermore, each side of the cycle provides important benefits to the other side. The high temperature exhaust from the overall exothermic reaction of the fuel cell provides heat for the reheater allowing for an overall increase in power on the nuclear side of the cycle. Likewise, the high temperature helium exiting the nuclear reactor provides a controllable method to stabilize the fuel cell at an optimal temperature band even during transients helping

HTGRs, loaded with uranium or plutonium fuel do not authorize high breeding ratios. Consequently, the Gen IV requirement of sustainability with respect to the use of fissile resources may be difficult to meet. Relying on the thorium conversion into fissile uranium 233, the use of thorium is promising regarding the breeding ratio. Accordingly, the symbiotic Pu/Th fuelcycle is an interesting way to optimize the energetic use of plutonium. In the first part of this paper, we compare the performances of HTRs with different types of fuel (15% enriched U, Pu alone, Th-Pu) on the resource consumption. Relying on HTGRs, a good conversion ratio (typically 0.8) is mandatory to satisfy high temperature needs in the long term. In the second part, we discuss the neutronic calculation scheme for a prismatic HTGR annular core (GTMHR like, with an internal graphite reflector), and for a large HTGR (modeled with an assembly calculation). In the last part of the paper, Pu/Th, U233/Th and Pu-U233/Th fuelcycle are studied for the two types of HTGRs. The performances in terms of conversion ratios are compared. For a given power of 300 Mwe, several compositions for the fuel are studied. The fraction of thorium in the fuel composition is varying from 0% to 99% and the total fuel mass charged in the core ranges from 1200 kg to 15,000 kg. We show that good conversion ratios are very difficult to obtain for annular HTGRs. New designs must be considered, with a larger core, and a smaller power density (to reach the passive evacuation of residual power). Finally, a preliminary strategy for the deployment of these fuelcycles is presented. (authors)

The Open-Cycle Gas Turbine/Steam Turbine Combined Cycle can be an effective energy conversion system for converting coal to electricity. The intermediate step in this energy conversion process is to convert the coal into a fuel acceptable to a gas turbine. This can be accomplished by producing a synthetic gas or liquid, and by removing, in the fuel conversion step, the elements in the fuel that would be harmful to the environment if combusted. In this paper, two open-cycle gas turbine combined systems are evaluated: one employing an integrated low-Btu gasifier, and one utilizing a semi-clean liquid fuel. A consistent technical/economic information base is developed for these two systems, and is compared with a reference steam plant burning coal directly in a conventional furnace.

Standard practices of internal combustion (IC) engine experiments are to conduct the measurements of quantities averaged over a large number of cycles. Depending on the operating conditions, the cycle-to-cycle variation (CCV) of quantities, such as the indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) are observed at different levels. Accurate prediction of CCV in IC engines is an important but challenging task. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations using high performance computing (HPC) can be used effectively to visualize such 3D spatial distributions. In the present study, a dual fuel large engine is considered, with natural gas injected into the manifold accompanied with direct injection of diesel pilot fuel to trigger ignition. Multiple engine cycles in 3D are simulated in series as in the experiments to investigate the potential of HPC based high fidelity simulations to accurately capture the cycle to cycle variation in dual fuel engines. Open cycle simulations are conducted to predict the combined effect of the stratification of fuel-air mixture, temperature and turbulence on the CCV of pressure. The predicted coefficient of variation (COV) of pressure compared to the results from closed cycle simulations and the experiments.

Hybrid systems consisting of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) on the top of a Steam Turbine (ST) are investigated. The plants are fired by natural gas (NG). A desulfurization reactor removes the sulfur content in the fuel while a pre-reformer breaks down the heavier hydrocarbons. The pre-treated fuel...... enters then into the anode side of the SOFC. The remaining fuels after the SOFC stacks enter a burner for further burning. The off-gases are then used to produce steam for a Rankine cycle in a Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG). Different system setups are suggested. Cyclic efficiencies up to 67......% are achieved which is considerably higher than the conventional Combined Cycles (CC). Both ASR (Adiabatic Steam Reformer) and CPO (Catalytic Partial Oxidation) fuel pre-reformer reactors are considered in this investigation....

Using the INPRO methodology, the proliferation resistance of an innovative nuclear energy system(INS) defined as a closed nuclear fuelcycle system consisting of KALIMER and pyroprocessing, has been assessed. Considering a very early development stage of the INS concept, the PR assessment is carried out based on intrinsic features, if required information and data are not available. The PR assessment of KALIMER and JSFR using the INPRO methodology affirmed that an adequate proliferation resistance has been achieved in both INSs CNFC-SFR, considering the assessor's progress and maturity of design development. KALIMER and JSFR are developed or being developed conforming to the targets and criteria defined for developing Gen IV nuclear reactor system. Based on these assessment results, proliferation resistance and physical protection(PR and PP) of KALIMER and JSFR are evaluated from the viewpoint of requirements for future nuclear fuelcycle system. The envisioned INSs CNFC-SFR rely on active plutonium management based on a closed fuelcycle, in which a fissile material is recycled in an integrated fuelcycle facility within proper safeguards. There is no isolated plutonium in the closed fuelcycle. The material remains continuously in a sequence of highly radioactive matrices within inaccessible facilities. The proliferation resistance assessment should be an ongoing analysis that keeps up with the progress and maturity of the design of Gen IV SFR.

The Advanced FuelCycle Initiative’s (AFCI) fundamental objective is to provide technology options that – if implemented – would enable long-term growth of nuclear power while improving sustainability and energy security. The AFCI organization structure consists of four areas; Systems Analysis, Fuels, Separations and Transmutations. The Systems Analysis Working Group is tasked with bridging the program technical areas and providing the models, tools, and analyses required to assess the feasibility of design and deploy¬ment options and inform key decision makers. An integral part of the Systems Analysis tool set is the development of a system level model that can be used to examine the implications of the different mixes of reactors, implications of fuel reprocessing, impact of deployment technologies, as well as potential “exit” or “off ramp” approaches to phase out technologies, waste management issues and long-term repository needs. The Verifiable FuelCycle Simulation Model (VISION) is a computer-based simulation model that allows performing dynamic simulations of fuelcycles to quantify infrastructure requirements and identify key trade-offs between alternatives. VISION is intended to serve as a broad systems analysis and study tool applicable to work conducted as part of the AFCI (including costs estimates) and Generation IV reactor development studies.

There are three major objectives of this hydropower study: (1) to implement the methodological concepts that were developed in the background document (ORNL/RFF 1992) as a means of estimating the external costs and benefits of fuelcycles and, by so doing, to demonstrate their application to the hydroelectric fuelcycle (different fuelcycles have unique characteristics that need to be addressed in different ways); (2) to develop, given the time and resources, the best range of estimates of externalities associated with hydroelectric projects, using two benchmark projects at two reference sites in the US; and (3) to assess the state of the information that is available to support the estimation of externalities associated with the hydroelectric fuelcycle and, by so doing, to assist in identifying gaps in knowledge and in setting future research agendas. The main consideration in defining these objectives was a desire to have more information about externalities and a better method for estimating them. As set forth in the agreement between the US and the EC, the study is explicitly and intentionally not directed at any one audience. This study is about a methodology for estimating externalities. It is not about how to use estimates of externalities in a particular policy context.

Substantiation is given to expediency of investigation of nuclear power (NP) development with fast reactors cooled by lead-bismuth alloy operating during extended time in the open nuclear fuelcycle with slightly enriched or depleted uranium make-up. 9 refs., 1 fig., 6 tabs.

General Atomics has started design of a waste to energy nuclear reactor (EM2) that can use light water reactor (LWR) spent nuclear fuel (SNF). This effort addresses two problems: using an advanced small reactor with long core life to reduce nuclear energy overnight cost and providing a disposal path for LWR SNF. LWR SNF is re-fabricated into new EM2 fuel using a dry voloxidation process modeled on AIROX/ OREOX processes which remove some of the fission products but no heavy metals. By not removing all of the fission products the fuel remains self-protecting. By not separating heavy metals, the process remains proliferation resistant. Implementation of Energy Multiplier Module (EM2) fuelcycle will provide low cost nuclear energy while providing a long term LWR SNF disposition path which is important for LWR waste confidence. With LWR waste confidence recent impacts on reactor licensing, an alternate disposition path is highly relevant. Centered on a reactor operating at 250 MWe, the compact electricity generating system design maximizes site flexibility with truck transport of all system components and available dry cooling features that removes the need to be located near a body of water. A high temperature system using helium coolant, electricity is efficiently produced using an asynchronous high-speed gas turbine while the LWR SNF is converted to fission products. Reactor design features such as vented fuel and silicon carbide cladding support reactor operation for decades between refueling, with improved fuel utilization. Beyond the reactor, the fuelcycle is designed so that subsequent generations of EM2 reactor fuel will use the previous EM2 discharge, providing its own waste confidence plus eliminating the need for enrichment after the first generation. Additional LWR SNF is added at each re-fabrication to replace the removed fission products. The fuelcycle uses a dry voloxidation process for both the initial LWR SNF re-fabrication and later for EM2

Multilateral mechanisms for the fuelcycle are seen as a potentially important way to create an industrial infrastructure that will support a renaissance and at the same time not contribute to the risk of nuclear proliferation. In this way, international nuclear fuelcycle centers for enrichment can help to provide an assurance of supply of nuclear fuel that will reduce the likelihood that individual states will pursue this sensitive technology, which can be used to produce nuclear material directly usable nuclear weapons. Multinational participation in such mechanisms can also potentially promote transparency, build confidence, and make the implementation of IAEA safeguards more effective or more efficient. At the same time, it is important to ensure that there is no dissemination of sensitive technology. The Russian Federation has taken a lead role in this area by establishing an International Uranium Enrichment Center (IUEC) for the provision of enrichment services at its uranium enrichment plant located at the Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Complex (AECC). This paper describes how the IUEe is organized, who its members are, and the steps that it has taken both to provide an assured supply of nuclear fuel and to ensure protection of sensitive technology. It also describes the relationship between the IUEC and the IAEA and steps that remain to be taken to enhance its assurance of supply. Using the IUEC as a starting point for discussion, the paper also explores more generally the ways in which features of such fuelcycle centers with multinational participation can have an impact on safeguards arrangements, transparency, and confidence-building. Issues include possible lAEA safeguards arrangements or other links to the IAEA that might be established at such fuelcycle centers, impact of location in a nuclear weapon state, and the transition by the IAEA to State Level safeguards approaches.

This report describes methods for estimating the external costs (and possibly benefits) to human health and the environment that result from natural gas fuelcycles. Although the concept of externalities is far from simple or precise, it generally refers to effects on individuals' well being, that result from a production or market activity in which the individuals do not participate, or are not fully compensated. In the past two years, the methodological approach that this report describes has quickly become a worldwide standard for estimating externalities of fuelcycles. The approach is generally applicable to any fuelcycle in which a resource, such as coal, hydro, or biomass, is used to generate electric power. This particular report focuses on the production activities, pollution, and impacts when natural gas is used to generate electric power. In the 1990s, natural gas technologies have become, in many countries, the least expensive to build and operate. The scope of this report is on how to estimate the value of externalities--where value is defined as individuals' willingness to pay for beneficial effects, or to avoid undesirable ones. This report is about the methodologies to estimate these externalities, not about how to internalize them through regulations or other public policies. Notwithstanding this limit in scope, consideration of externalities can not be done without considering regulatory, insurance, and other considerations because these institutional factors affect whether costs (and benefits) are in fact external, or whether they are already somehow internalized within the electric power market. Although this report considers such factors to some extent, much analysis yet remains to assess the extent to which estimated costs are indeed external. This report is one of a series of reports on estimating the externalities of fuelcycles. The other reports are on the coal, oil, biomass, hydro, and nuclear fuelcycles, and on general

A simple and rapid spectrophotometric method has been developed to enable the determination of plutonium concentration in an irradiated fuel solution in the presence of all fission products. An excess of ceric ammonium nitrate solution was employed to oxidize all the valence states of plutonium to +6 oxidation state. Interference due to the presence of fission products such as ruthenium and zirconium, and corrosion products such as iron in the envisaged concentration range, as in the irradiated fuel solution, was studied in the determination of plutonium concentration by the direct spectrophotometric method. The stability of plutonium in +6 oxidation state was monitored under experimental conditions as a function of time. Results obtained are reproducible, and this method is applicable to radioactive samples resulting before the solvent extraction process during the reprocessing of fast reactor spent fuel. An analysis of the concentration of plutonium shows a relative standard deviation of <1.2% in standard as well as in simulated conditions. This reflects the fast reactor fuel composition with respect to uranium, plutonium, fission products such as ruthenium and zirconium, and corrosion products such as iron.

The standard capability of engine experimental studies is that ensemble averaged quantities like in-cylinder pressure from multiple cycles and emissions are reported and the cycle to cycle variation (CCV) of indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) is captured from many consecutive combustion cycles for each test condition. However, obtaining 3D spatial distribution of all the relevant quantities such as fuel-air mixing, temperature, turbulence levels and emissions from such experiments is a challenging task. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of engine flow and combustion can be used effectively to visualize such 3D spatial distributions. A dual fuel engine is considered in the current study, with manifold injected natural gas (NG) and direct injected diesel pilot for ignition. Multiple engine cycles in 3D are simulated in series like in the experiments to investigate the potential of high fidelity RANS simulations coupled with detailed chemistry, to accurately predict the CCV. Cycle to cycle variation (CCV) is expected to be due to variabilities in operating and boundary conditions, in-cylinder stratification of diesel and natural gas fuels, variation in in-cylinder turbulence levels and velocity flow-fields. In a previous publication by the authors [1], variabilities in operating and boundary conditions are incorporated into several closed cycle simulations performed in parallel. Stochastic variations/stratifications of fuel-air mixture, turbulence levels, temperature and internal combustion residuals cannot be considered in such closed cycle simulations. In this study, open cycle simulations with port injection of natural gas predicted the combined effect of the stratifications on the CCV of in-cylinder pressure. The predicted Coefficient of Variation (COV) of cylinder pressure is improved compared to the one captured by closed cycle simulations in parallel.

The purpose of this document is to provide a guide for using the current version of the Verifiable FuelCycle Simulation (VISION) model. This is a complex model with many parameters; the user is strongly encouraged to read this user guide before attempting to run the model. This model is an R&D work in progress and may contain errors and omissions. It is based upon numerous assumptions. This model is intended to assist in evaluating “what if” scenarios and in comparing fuel, reactor, and fuel processing alternatives at a systems level for U.S. nuclear power. The model is not intended as a tool for process flow and design modeling of specific facilities nor for tracking individual units of fuel or other material through the system. The model is intended to examine the interactions among the components of a fuel system as a function of time varying system parameters; this model represents a dynamic rather than steady-state approximation of the nuclear fuel system. VISION models the nuclear cycle at the system level, not individual facilities, e.g., “reactor types” not individual reactors and “separation types” not individual separation plants. Natural uranium can be enriched, which produces enriched uranium, which goes into fuel fabrication, and depleted uranium (DU), which goes into storage. Fuel is transformed (transmuted) in reactors and then goes into a storage buffer. Used fuel can be pulled from storage into either separation of disposal. If sent to separations, fuel is transformed (partitioned) into fuel products, recovered uranium, and various categories of waste. Recycled material is stored until used by its assigned reactor type. Note that recovered uranium is itself often partitioned: some RU flows with recycled transuranic elements, some flows with wastes, and the rest is designated RU. RU comes out of storage if needed to correct the U/TRU ratio in new recycled fuel. Neither RU nor DU are designated as wastes. VISION is comprised of several

In this paper, we performed a design study of a thorium fueled reactor according to the design concept of the Radkowsky Thorium Reactor (RTR) and evaluated its overall performance. To enhance its performance and alleviate its problems, we introduced a new metallic uranium fuel, uranium-zirconium hydride (U-ZrH{sub 1.6}), as a seed fuel. For comparison, typical ABB/CE-type PWR based on SYSTEM 80+and standard RTR-type thorium reactor were also studied. From the results of performance analysis, we could ascertain advantages of RTR-type thorium fueled reactor in proliferation resistance, fuelcycle economics, and back-end fuelcycle. Also, we found that enhancement of proliferation resistance and safer operating conditions may be achieved by using the U-ZrH{sub 1.6} fuel in the seed region without additional penalties in comparison with the standard RTR`s U-Zr fuel. 6 refs., 2 figs., 6 tabs. (Author)

Advanced High Temperature gas-cooled Reactors (HTR) currently being developed (GFR, VHTR - Very High Temperature gas-cooled Reactor, PBMR, and GT-MHR) are able to achieve a simplification of safety through reliance on innovative features and passive systems. One of the innovative features in these HTRs is reliance on ceramic-coated fuel particles to retain the fission products even under extreme accident conditions. The effect of the random fuel kernel distribution in the fuel pebble / block is addressed through the use of the Dancoff correction factor in the resonance treatment. In addition, the Dancoff correction factor is a function of burnup and fuel kernel packing factor, which requires that the Dancoff correction factor be updated during Equilibrium FuelCycle (EqFC) analysis. Although HTR fuel is rather homogeneously dispersed in the fuel graphite matrix, the heterogeneity effects in between fuel kernels and pebbles cannot be ignored. The double-heterogeneous lattice model recently developed at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) contains tens of thousands of cubic fuel kernel cells, which makes it very difficult to deplete the fuel, kernel by kernel (KbK), for the EqFC analysis. In addition, it is not possible to preserve the cubic size and packing factor in a spherical fuel pebble. To avoid these difficulties, a newly developed and validated HTR pebble-bed Kernel-by-Kernel spherical (KbK-sph) model, has been developed and verified in this study. The objective of this research is to introduce the KbK-sph model and super whole Pebble lattice model (PLM). The verified double-heterogeneous KbK-sph and pebble homogeneous lattice model (HLM) are used for the fuel burnup chracteristics analysis and important safety parameters validation. This study summarizes and compares the KbK-sph and HLM burnup analyzed results. Finally, we discus the Monte-Carlo coupling with a fuel depletion and buildup code - Origen-2 as a fuel burnup

Environmental effects (including accidents) associated with facility construction, operation, decommissioning, and transportation in the management of commercially generated radioactive waste were analyzed for plants and systems assuming a light water power reactor scenario that produces about 10,000 GWe-yr through the year 2050. The following alternative fuelcycle modes or cases that generate post-fission wastes requiring management were analyzed: a once-through option, a fuel reprocessing option for uranium and plutonium recycle, and a fuel reprocessing option for uranium-only recycle. Volume 1 comprises five chapters: introduction; summary of findings; approach to assessment of environmental effects from radioactive waste management; environmental effects related to radioactive management in a once-through fuelcycle; and environmental effects of radioactive waste management associated with an LWR fuel reprocessing plant. (LK)

Once-through fuelcycle systems are commercially used for the generation of nuclear power, with little exception. The bulk of these once-through systems have been water-cooled reactors (light-water and heavy water reactors, LWRs and HWRs). Some gas-cooled reactors are used in the United Kingdom. The commercial power systems that are exceptions use limited recycle (currently one recycle) of transuranic elements, primarily plutonium, as done in Europe and nearing deployment in Japan. For most of these once-through fuelcycles, the ultimate storage of the used (spent) nuclear fuel (UNF, SNF) will be in a geologic repository. Besides the commercial nuclear plants, new once-through concepts are being proposed for various objectives under international advanced nuclear fuelcycle studies and by industrial and venture capital groups. Some of the objectives for these systems include: (1) Long life core for remote use or foreign export and to support proliferation risk reduction goals - In these systems the intent is to achieve very long core-life with no refueling and limited or no access to the fuel. Most of these systems are fast spectrum systems and have been designed with the intent to improve plant economics, minimize nuclear waste, enhance system safety, and reduce proliferation risk. Some of these designs are being developed under Generation IV International Forum activities and have generally not used fuel blankets and have limited the fissile content of the fuel to less than 20% for the purpose on meeting international nonproliferation objectives. In general, the systems attempt to use transuranic elements (TRU) produced in current commercial nuclear power plants as this is seen as a way to minimize the amount of the problematic radio-nuclides that have to be stored in a repository. In this case, however, the reprocessing of the commercial LWR UNF to produce the initial fuel will be necessary. For this reason, some of the systems plan to use low enriched uranium

Nuclear energy will have to cope more and more with a rapid changing environment due to economic competitive pressure and the deregulatory progress. In current economic environment, utilities will have to focus strongly on the reduction of their total generation costs, covering the fuelcycle costs, which are only partly under their control. Developments in the fuelcycle will be in the short-term rather evolutionary addressing the current needs of utilities. However, within the context of sustainable development and more and more inclusion of externalities in energy generation costs, more performing developments in the fuelcycle could become important and feasible. A life-cycle design approach of the fuelcycle will be requested in order to cover all factors in order to decrease significantly the nuclear energy generation cost to complete with other alternative fuels in the long-term. This paper will report on some of the trends one could distinguish in the fuelcycle with emphasis on cost reduction. OECD/NEA is currently conducting a study on the fuelcycle aiming to assess current and future nuclear fuelcycles according to the potential for further improvement of the full added-value chain of these cycles from a mainly technological and economic perspective including environmental and social considerations. (orig.) [German] Die Kernenergie wird sich mehr und mehr in einem Umfeld behaupten muessen, das durch schnelle Veraenderungen auf Grund des Wettbewerbsdrucks in der Wirtschaft und des Liberalisierungsprozesses gekennzeichnet ist. Im heutigen Wirtschaftsumfeld muessen sich die Energieversorgungsunternehmen hauptsaechlich auf die Senkung ihrer Stromerzeugungs-Gesamtkosten konzentrieren. Darunter fallen auch die Brennstoffkreislaufkosten, die sie nur zum Teil beeinflussen koennen. Kurzfristig gesehen, duerften die Entwicklungen im Brennstoffkreislauf eher evolutionaer verlaufen und den jeweiligen Beduerfnissen der EVUs entsprechen. Im Zusammenhang mit einer

The FuelCycle (FC) Subcommittee of NEAC met February 7-8, 2012 in Washington (Drs. Hoffmann and Juzaitis were unable to attend). While the meeting was originally scheduled to occur after the submission of the President’s FY 2013 budget, the submission was delayed a week; thus, we could have no discussion on balance in the NE program. The Agenda is attached as Appendix A. The main focus of the meeting was on accident tolerant fuels, an important post Fukushima issue, and on issues related to the report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC) as related to the responsibility for used fuel disposal which was assigned to the FC program with the end of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. In addition we heard an update on the systems study program which is aimed at helping chose the best options for advanced reactors, and possible new study on separation and waste form relevance to used fuel disposal (these two items are only discussed in this section of the report).

This thesis reports life cycle inventories of internal combustion engine automobiles with feasible near term fuel/engine combinations. These combinations include unleaded gasoline, California Phase 2 Reformulated Gasoline, alcohol and gasoline blends (85 percent methanol or ethanol combined with 15 percent gasoline), and compressed natural gas in spark ignition direct and indirect injection engines. Additionally, I consider neat methanol and neat ethanol in spark ignition direct injection engines and diesel fuel in compression ignition direct and indirect injection engines. I investigate the potential of the above options to have a lower environmental impact than conventional gasoline-fueled automobiles, while still retaining comparable pricing and consumer benefits. More broadly, the objective is to assess whether the use of any of the alternative systems will help to lead to the goal of a more sustainable personal transportation system. The principal tool is the Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Analysis model which includes inventories of economic data, environmental discharges, and resource use. I develop a life cycle assessment framework to assemble the array of data generated by the model into three aggregate assessment parameters; economics, externalities, and vehicle attributes. The first step is to develop a set of 'comparable cars' with the alternative fuel/engine combinations, based on characteristics of a conventional 1998 gasoline-fueled Ford Taurus sedan, the baseline vehicle for the analyses. I calculate the assessment parameters assuming that these comparable cars can attain the potential thermal efficiencies estimated by experts for each fuel/engine combination. To a first approximation, there are no significant differences in the assessment parameters for the vehicle manufacture, service, fixed costs, and the end-of-life for any of the options. However, there are differences in the vehicle operation life cycle components and the state of technology

The fusion-fission LIFE engine concept provides a path to a sustainable energy future based on safe, carbon-free nuclear power with minimal nuclear waste. The LIFE design ultimately offers many advantages over current and proposed nuclear energy technologies, and could well lead to a true worldwide nuclear energy renaissance. When compared with existing and other proposed future nuclear reactor designs, the LIFE engine exceeds alternatives in the most important measures of proliferation resistance and waste minimization. The engine needs no refueling during its lifetime. It requires no removal of fuel or fissile material generated in the LIFE engine. It leaves no weapons-attractive material at the end of life. Although there is certainly a need for additional work, all indications are that the 'back end' of the fuelcycle does not to raise any 'showstopper' issues for LIFE. Indeed, the LIFE concept has numerous benefits: (1) Per unit of electricity generated, LIFE engines would generate 20-30 times less waste (in terms of mass of heavy metal) requiring disposal in a HLW repository than does the current once-through fuelcycle. (2) Although there may be advanced fuelcycles that can compete with LIFE's low mass flow of heavy metal, all such systems require reprocessing, with attendant proliferation concerns; LIFE engines can do this without enrichment or reprocessing. Moreover, none of the advanced fuelcycles can match the low transuranic content of LIFE waste. (3) The specific thermal power of LIFE waste is initially higher than that of spent LWR fuel. Nevertheless, this higher thermal load can be managed using appropriate engineering features during an interim storage period, and could be accommodated in a Yucca-Mountain-like repository by appropriate 'staging' of the emplacement of waste packages during the operational period of the repository. The planned ventilation rates for Yucca Mountain would be sufficient for LIFE waste

In studying the position of the United States Department of Energy, Non-proliferation Alternative Systems Assessment Program, this report determines the uranium saving associated with various improvement concepts applicable to a once-through fuelcycle of a standard four-loop Westinghouse Pressurized Water Reactor. Increased discharged fuel burnup from 33,000 to 45,000 MWD/MTM could achieve a 12% U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ saving by 1990. Improved fuel management schemes combined with coastdown to 60% power, could result in U/sub 3/O/sub 8/ savings of 6%.

Develops the tools to investiage the hypothesis that the savings in repository space associated with the implementation of advanced nuclear fuelcycles can result in sufficient cost savings to offset the higher costs of those fuelcycles.

Full Text Available This paper shows basic features of different fuel assembly (FA application for VVER-1000 in a closed fuelcycle based on REMIX-technology. This investigation shows how the change in the water–fuel ratio in the VVER FA affects on the fuel characteristics produced by REMIX technology during multiple recycling.

The DUPIC fuel loading and discharge path of Wolsong NPP is studied assuming that DUPIC fuel is used at Wolsong NPP. Spent DUPIC fuel discharge path is irrelevant, since it uses the same spent fuel discharge path. Number of factors such as safety, economics of design change, radiation exposure to operators, easy of operation and maintenance, etc, are considered in the evaluation of path. A more detailed analysis of cost estimation of the selected path is also carried out. The study shows that DUPIC fuel loading path following through Spent Fuel Storage Bay and Spent Fuel Discharge Port in reverse direction will minimize the design change and additional equipment and radiation exposure to operators. The estimated total cost of using DUPIC fuel in Wolsong NPP based on price index of year 2000 is around 4.5 billion won. 4 refs., 30 figs., 13 tabs. (Author)

The agreement between the US DOE and the EC established the specific objectives of the study: (a) to develop a methodological framework that uses existing data and models to quantify the external costs and benefits of energy; (b) to demonstrate the application of the framework to estimate the externalities of the coal, biomass, oil, natural gas, hydro, nuclear, photovoltaic, and wind fuelcycles (by agreement with the EC, the US addressed the first six of these); and (c) to identify major gaps in the availability of information to quantify impacts, damages, benefits, and externalities of fuelcycles; and to suggest priorities for future research. The main consideration in defining these objectives was a desire to have more information about externalities, and a better method for estimating them.

The panel reviewed the complete nuclear fuelcycle in the context of alternate energy resources, energy need projections, effects on the environment, susceptibility of nuclear materials to theft, diversion, and weapon proliferation. We also looked at ethical considerations of energy use, as well as waste, and its effects. The scope of the review extended to the end of the next century with due regard for world populations beyond that period. The intent was to take a long- range view and to project, not forecast, the future based on ethical rationales, and to avoid, as often happens, long-range discussions that quickly zoom in on only the next few decades. A specific nuclear fuelcycle technology that could satisfy these considerations was described and can be applied globally.

This study is aimed at outlining a prospective fuelcycle applicable to the nuclear transmutation of long lived radionuclides. Recycling the uranium and plutonium of spent fuels by Purex reprocessing is known to be far from an economical way at present. In addition, it generates high-level rad waste containing long-lived radionuclides, which would be a great burden to the subsequent final disposal in terms of cost, safety, and risks of environmental impact. As an alternative way to overcome this problem while still recycling the valuable fissionable materials as energy resources, transmutation is being taken into account by scientists in many countries. The concept of P{center_dot}T cycle suggested in this study is based on the technological requirements in relation with the transmutation system, while lowering the burden of waste disposal as well as risks of nuclear proliferation. (author)

An estimate of the plutonium source terms is made for the fuelcycles of three reactor types on the basis of currently applied, currently available, and estimated future technology. The three reactors are LWR-U, LWR-Pu, and LMFBR. The source terms are characterized as to quantity, form, and particle size distribution. Historical operating data for existing plants and the state of the art of the technology of air cleaning are reviewed.

In Fiscal Year 2012 (FY12) PNNL implemented a formal reasoning framework and applied it to a specific challenge in nuclear nonproliferation. The Semantic Nonproliferation Analysis Platform (SNAP) was developed as a preliminary graphical user interface to demonstrate the potential power of the underlying semantic technologies to analyze and explore facts and relationships relating to the nuclear fuelcycle (NFC). In Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) the SNAP demonstration was enhanced with respect to query and navigation usability issues.

This team aimed to understand the broad implications of changes of operating performance and parameters of a fuelcycle component on the entire system. In particular, this report documents the study of the impact of changing the loss of fission products into recycled fuel and the loss of actinides into waste. When the effort started in spring 2009, an over-simplified statement of the objective was “the number of nines” – how would the cost of separation, fuel fabrication, and waste management change as the number of nines of separation efficiency changed. The intent was to determine the optimum “losses” of TRU into waste for the single system that had been the focus of the Global Nuclear Energy Program (GNEP), namely sustained recycle in burner fast reactors, fed by transuranic (TRU) material recovered from used LWR UOX-51 fuel. That objective proved to be neither possible (insufficient details or attention to the former GNEP options, change in national waste management strategy from a Yucca Mountain focus) nor appropriate given the 2009-2010 change to a science-based program considering a wider range of options. Indeed, the definition of “losses” itself changed from the loss of TRU into waste to a generic definition that a “loss” is any material that ends up where it is undesired. All streams from either separation or fuel fabrication are products; fuel feed streams must lead to fuels with tolerable impurities and waste streams must meet waste acceptance criteria (WAC) for one or more disposal sites. And, these losses are linked in the sense that as the loss of TRU into waste is reduced, often the loss or carryover of waste into TRU or uranium is increased. The effort has provided a mechanism for connecting these three Campaigns at a technical level that had not previously occurred – asking smarter and smarter questions, sometimes answering them, discussing assumptions, identifying R&D needs, and gaining new insights. The FIT model has been a

In this report, an attempt was made to derive indicators for the evaluation of the sustainability of the nuclear fuelcycle, using the methodologies developed by the INPRO, OECD/NEA and Gen-IV. In deriving the indicators, the three main elements of the sustainability, i.e., economics, environmental impact, and social aspect, as well as the technological aspect of the nuclear fuelcycle, considering the importance of the safety, were selected as the main criteria. An evaluation indicator for each criterion was determined, and the contents and evaluation method of each indicator were proposed. In addition, a questionnaire survey was carried out for the objectivity of the selection of the indicators in which participated some experts of the Korea Energy Technology and Emergency Management Institute (KETEMI) . Although the proposed indicators do not satisfy the characteristics and requirements of general indicators, it is presumed that they can be used in the analysis of the sustainability of the nuclear fuelcycle because those indicators incorporate various expert judgment and public opinions. On the other hand, the weighting factor of each indicator should be complemented in the future, using the AHP method and expert advice/consultations.

The physical approach (I.P.Eremeev. Proc. of the PAC-95. Vol.1, p.98.) is applied for technology of nuclear fuelcycle. It is proposed the cycle to be closed by such an accelerator based process link, which would allow, on the one hand, the most hazardous of "equilibrium" radionuclides to be transmuted to stable isotopes or incinerated and, on the other hand, additional fissile fuel to be produced to compensate the energy consumption. Parameters of the technology, such as an intensity and energy "cost" of a transmutation event, a flux of photoneutrons produced have been determined for model targets. It is shown that the approach allows the above fission/transuranium radionuclides to be transmuted/ incinerated at a much greater rate than that of their build-up in operating NPP reactors at a much less energy consumption than an energy produced under their formation and at considerable compensation of the consumed energy through breeding fissile isotopes. A possibility of going to a closed Th-U fuelcycle is discussed. To realize the technology proposed requirements to a system of electron accelerators are formulated.

The activities that produce electric power typically range from extracting and transporting a fuel, to its conversion into electric power, and finally to the disposition of residual by-products. This chain of activities is called a fuelcycle. A fuelcycle has emissions and other effects that result in unintended consequences. When these consequences affect third parties (i.e., those other than the producers and consumers of the fuel-cycle activity) in a way that is not reflected in the price of electricity, they are termed ''hidden'' social costs or externalities. They are the economic value of environmental, health and any other impacts, that the price of electricity does not reflect. How do you estimate the externalities of fuelcycles? Our previous report describes a methodological framework for doing so--called the damage function approach. This approach consists of five steps: (1) characterize the most important fuelcycle activities and their discharges, where importance is based on the expected magnitude of their externalities, (2) estimate the changes in pollutant concentrations or other effects of those activities, by modeling the dispersion and transformation of each pollutant, (3) calculate the impacts on ecosystems, human health, and any other resources of value (such as man-made structures), (4) translate the estimates of impacts into economic terms to estimate damages and benefits, and (5) assess the extent to which these damages and benefits are externalities, not reflected in the price of electricity. Each step requires a different set of equations, models and analysis. Analysts generally believe this to be the best approach for estimating externalities, but it has hardly been used! The reason is that it requires considerable analysis and calculation, and to this point in time, the necessary equations and models have not been assembled. Equally important, the process of identifying and estimating externalities leads to a number

The basic features of loading the VVER-1000 core with a new variant of REMIX fuel (REgenerated MIXture of U-Pu oxides) are considered during its multiple recycle in a closed nuclear fuelcycle. The fuel composition is produced on the basis of the uranium-plutonium regenerate extracted at processing the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from a VVER-1000, depleted uranium, and the fissionable material: 235U as a part of highly enriched uranium (HEU) from warheads superfluous for defense purposes or 233U accumulated in thorium blankets of fusion (electronuclear) neutron sources or fast reactors. Production of such a fuel assumes no use of natural uranium in addition. When converting a part of the VVER-1000 reactors to the closed fuelcycle based on the REMIX technology, the consumption of natural uranium decreases considerably, and there is no substantial degradation of the isotopic composition of plutonium or change in the reactor-safety characteristics at the passage from recycle to recycle.

The basic features of loading the VVER-1000 core with a new variant of REMIX fuel (REgenerated MIXture of U–Pu oxides) are considered during its multiple recycle in a closed nuclear fuelcycle. The fuel composition is produced on the basis of the uranium–plutonium regenerate extracted at processing the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from a VVER-1000, depleted uranium, and the fissionable material: {sup 235}U as a part of highly enriched uranium (HEU) from warheads superfluous for defense purposes or {sup 233}U accumulated in thorium blankets of fusion (electronuclear) neutron sources or fast reactors. Production of such a fuel assumes no use of natural uranium in addition. When converting a part of the VVER-1000 reactors to the closed fuelcycle based on the REMIX technology, the consumption of natural uranium decreases considerably, and there is no substantial degradation of the isotopic composition of plutonium or change in the reactor-safety characteristics at the passage from recycle to recycle.

The report on the strategic environmental audit for the national waste disposal program covers the following issues: aim of the study, active factors, environmental objectives; description and evaluation of environmental impact including site selection criteria for final repositories of heat generating radioactive waste, intermediate storage of spent fuel elements and waste from reprocessing plants, disposal of wastes retrieved from Asse II; hypothetical zero variants.

The recent revival of interest in accelerator-driven subcritical fluid-fueled systems is documented. Several important applications of these systems are mentioned. In particular, new applications have focused on the destruction of high-level radioactive waste. Systems can be designed to quickly destroy the actinides and long-lived fission products from light water reactor fuel, weapons plutonium, and other high-level defense wastes. The proposed development of these systems is used to motivate the need for the development of dynamic analysis methods for their nuclear kinetics. A physical description of the Los Alamos Accelerator-Based Conversion (ABC) concept is provided. This system is used as the basis for the kinetics study in this research. The current approach to the dynamic simulation of an accelerator-driven subcritical fluid-fueled system includes three elements: A discrete ordinates model is used to calculate the flux distribution for the source-driven system; A nodal convection model is used to calculate time-dependent isotope and temperature distributions which impact reactivity; A nodal importance weighting model is used to calculate the reactivity impact of temperature and isotope distributions and to feed this information back to the time-dependent nodal convection model. Specific transients which have been analyzed with the current modeling system are discussed. These transients include loss-of-flow and loss-of-cooling accidents, xenon and samarium transients, and cold-plug and overfueling events. The results of various transients have uncovered unpredictable behavior, unresolved design issues, and the need for active control. Modest initiating events can cause significant swings in system temperature and power. The circulation of the fluid fuel can lead to oscillations on the relatively short scale of the loop circulation time. The system responds quickly to reactivity changes because the large neutron source overwhelms the damping effect of delayed

We examine the possibilities for a "greener" car that would use less material and fuel, be less polluting, and would have a well-managed end-of-life. Light-duty vehicles are fundamental to our economy and will continue to be for the indefinite future. Any redesign to make these vehicles greener requires consumer acceptance. Consumer desires for large, powerful vehicles have been the major stumbling block in achieving a "green car". The other major barrier is inherent contradictions among social goals such as fuel economy, safety, low emissions of pollutants, and low emissions of greenhouse gases, which has led to conflicting regulations such as emissions regulations blocking sales of direct injection diesels in California, which would save fuel. In evaluating fuel/vehicle options with the potential to improve the greenness of cars [diesel (direct injection) and ethanol in internal combustion engines, battery-powered, gasoline hybrid electric, and hydrogen fuel cells], we find no option dominates the others on all dimensions. The principles of green design developed by Anastas and Zimmerman (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2003, 37, 94A-101A) and the use of a life cycle approach provide insights on the key sustainability issues associated with the various options.

To accurately represent how conservation and efficiency policies affect energy demand, both direct and indirect impacts need to be included in the accounting. The indirect impacts are defined here as the resource savings that accrue over the fuel production chain, which when added to the energy consumed at the point of use, constitute the full-fuel- cycle (FFC) energy. This paper uses the accounting framework developed in (Coughlin 2012) to calculate FFC energy metrics as time series for the period 2010-2040. The approach is extended to define FFC metrics for the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and other air-borne pollutants. The primary focus is the types of energy used in buildings and industrial processes, mainly natural gas and electricity. The analysis includes a discussion of the fuel production chain for coal, which is used extensively for electric power generation, and for diesel and fuel oil, which are used in mining, oil and gas operations, and fuel distribution. Estimates of the energy intensity parameters make use of data and projections from the Energy Information Agency’s National Energy Modeling System, with calculations based on information from the Annual Energy Outlook 2012.

Once-through fuelcycle systems are commercially used for the generation of nuclear power, with little exception. The bulk of these once-through systems have been water-cooled reactors (light-water and heavy water reactors, LWRs and HWRs). Some gas-cooled reactors are used in the United Kingdom. The commercial power systems that are exceptions use limited recycle (currently one recycle) of transuranic elements, primarily plutonium, as done in Europe and nearing deployment in Japan. For most of these once-through fuelcycles, the ultimate storage of the used (spent) nuclear fuel (UNF, SNF) will be in a geologic repository. Besides the commercial nuclear plants, new once-through concepts are being proposed for various objectives under international advanced nuclear fuelcycle studies and by industrial and venture capital groups. Some of the objectives for these systems include: (1) Long life core for remote use or foreign export and to support proliferation risk reduction goals - In these systems the intent is to achieve very long core-life with no refueling and limited or no access to the fuel. Most of these systems are fast spectrum systems and have been designed with the intent to improve plant economics, minimize nuclear waste, enhance system safety, and reduce proliferation risk. Some of these designs are being developed under Generation IV International Forum activities and have generally not used fuel blankets and have limited the fissile content of the fuel to less than 20% for the purpose on meeting international nonproliferation objectives. In general, the systems attempt to use transuranic elements (TRU) produced in current commercial nuclear power plants as this is seen as a way to minimize the amount of the problematic radio-nuclides that have to be stored in a repository. In this case, however, the reprocessing of the commercial LWR UNF to produce the initial fuel will be necessary. For this reason, some of the systems plan to use low enriched uranium

Many of the processing steps in the nuclear fuelcycle generate aqueous effluent streams bearing contaminants that can, because of their chemical or radiological properties, pose an environmental hazard. Concentration of such contaminants must be reduced to acceptable levels before the streams can be discharged to the environment. Two classes of contaminants, nitrates and heavy metals, are addressed in this study. Specific techniques aimed at the removal of nitrates and radioactive heavy metals by biological processes are being developed, tested, and demonstrated. Although cost comparisons between biological processes and current treatment methods are presented, these comparisons may be misleading because biological processes yield environmentally better end results which are difficult to price. However, a strong case is made for the use of biological processes for removing nitrates and heavy metals fron nuclear fuelcycle effluents. The estimated costs for these methods are as low as, or lower than, those for alternate processes. In addition, the resulting disposal products - nitrogen gas, CO/sub 2/, and heavy metals incorporated into microorganisms - are much more ecologically desirable than the end products of other waste treatment methods.

In the 1960s two technical bases for the Northern Fleet were created in the Russian northwest at Andreeva Bay in the Kola Peninsula and Gremikha village on the coast of the Barents Sea. They maintained nuclear submarines, receiving and storing radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. No further waste was received after 1985, and the technical bases have since been re-categorised as temporary storage sites. The handling of these materials to put them into a safe condition is especially hazardous because of their degraded state. This paper describes regulatory activities which have been carried out to support the supervision of radiological protection during recovery of waste and spent fuel, and to support regulatory decisions on overall site remediation. The work described includes: an assessment of the radiation situation on-site; the development of necessary additional regulatory rules and standards for radiation protection assurance for workers and the public during remediation; and the completion of an initial threat assessment to identify regulatory priorities. Detailed consideration of measures for the control of radiation exposure of workers and radiation exposure of the public during and after operations and emergency preparedness and response are complete and provided in sister papers. The continuing requirements for regulatory activities relevant to the development and implementation of on-going and future remediation activities are also outlined. The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority supports the work, as part of the Norwegian Government's plan of action to promote improvements in radiation protection and nuclear safety in northwest Russia.

This book describes essential and effective management for reliably ensuring public safety from radioactive wastes in Japan. This is the first book to cover many aspects of wastes from the nuclear fuelcycle to research and medical use, allowing readers to understand the characterization, treatment and final disposal of generated wastes, performance assessment, institutional systems, and social issues such as intergenerational ethics. Exercises at the end of each chapter help to understand radioactive waste management in context.

Smallwood, G. [National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON (Canada)

2009-07-01

This paper provided a summary of key achievements of the Program of Energy Research and Development advanced fuels and technologies for emissions reduction (AFTER) program over the funding cycle from fiscal year 2005/2006 to 2008/2009. The purpose of the paper was to inform interested parties of recent advances in knowledge and in science and technology capacities in a concise manner. The paper discussed the high level research and development themes of the AFTER program through the following 4 overarching questions: how could advanced fuels and internal combustion engine designs influence emissions; how could emissions be reduced through the use of engine hardware including aftertreatment devices; how do real-world duty cycles and advanced technology vehicles operating on Canadian fuels compare with existing technologies, models and estimates; and what are the health risks associated with transportation-related emissions. It was concluded that the main issues regarding the use of biodiesel blends in current technology diesel engines are the lack of consistency in product quality; shorter shelf life of biodiesel due to poorer oxidative stability; and a need to develop characterization methods for the final oxygenated product because most standard methods are developed for hydrocarbons and are therefore inadequate. 2 tabs., 13 figs.

This work presents the measures of the nuclear reaction rates along the radial direction of the fuel pellet by irradiation and posterior gamma spectrometry of a thin slice of fuel pellet of UO2 at 4.3% enrichment. From its irradiation, the rate of radioactive capture and fission had been measured as a function of the radius of the pellet disk using a Ortec GMX HPGe detector. Lead collimators had been used for this purpose. Simulating the fuel pellet in the pin fuel of the IPEN/MB-01 reactor, a thin UO2 disk is used, being inserted in the interior of a dismountable fuel rod. This fuel rod is then placed in the central position of the IPEN/MB-01 reactor core and irradiated during 1 h under a neutron flux of 5 ×108 n/cm2 s. In gamma spectrometry, 10 collimators with different diameters have been used; consequently, the nuclear reactions of radioactive capture that occurs in atoms of 238U and the fission that occurs on both 235U and 238U are measured in function of 10 different regions (diameter of collimator) of the UO2 fuel pellet disk. Nuclear fission produces different fission products such as 143Ce with a yield fission of 5.9% which decay is monitored in this work. Corrections in geometric efficiency due to introduction of collimators on HPGe detection system were estimated using photon transport of MCNP-4C code. Some calculated values of nuclear reaction rate of radioactive capture and fission along the radial direction of the fuel pellet obtained by Monte Carlo methodology, using the MCNP-4C code, are presented and compared to the experimental data showing very good agreement.

The possible role of existing thorium reserves in the Russian Federation on engaging thorium in being currently closed (U-Pu)-fuelcycle of nuclear power of the country is considered. The application efficiency of thermonuclear neutron sources with thorium blanket for the economical use of existing thorium reserves is demonstrated. The aim of the work is to find solutions of such major tasks as the reduction of both front-end and back-end of nuclear fuelcycle and an enhancing its protection against the uncontrolled proliferation of fissile materials by means of the smallest changes in the fuelcycle. During implementation of the work we analyzed the results obtained earlier by the authors, brought new information on the number of thorium available in the Russian Federation and made further assessments. On the basis of proposal on the inclusion of hybrid reactors with Th-blanket into the future nuclear power for the production of light uranium fraction 232+233+234U, and 231Pa, we obtained the following results: 1. The fuelcycle will shift from fissile 235U to 233U which is more attractive for thermal power reactors. 2. The light uranium fraction is the most "protected" in the uranium component of fuel and mixed with regenerated uranium will in addition become a low enriched uranium fuel, that will weaken the problem of uncontrolled proliferation of fissile materials. 3. 231Pa doping into the fuel stabilizes its multiplying properties that will allow us to implement long-term fuel residence time and eventually to increase the export potential of all nuclear power technologies. 4. The thorium reserves being near city Krasnoufimsk (Russia) are large enough for operation of large-scale nuclear power of the Russian Federation of 70 GWe capacity during more than a quarter century under assumption that thorium is loaded into blankets of hybrid TNS only. The general conclusion: the inclusion of a small number of hybrid reactors with Th-blanket into the future nuclear

Department of FuelCycle Safety Research, JAERI, has been carrying out research on safe and rational disposal systems of radioactive wastes arising from medical activities and research institutes (RI and Research Institute Waste). The research area includes a study on molten solidified waste form, a geological survey on Japan, a proposal on integrated disposal systems, data acquisition for safety evaluation, and a safety analysis of disposal systems. This report introduces progress and future works for the treatment and disposal of RI and Research Institute Waste. (author)

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Deal with a practical radioactive contamination in Taiwan Research Reactor spent fuel pool water. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Identify the properties of radioactive contaminants and performance test for water treatment materials. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The radioactive solids were primary attributed by ruptured spent fuels, spent resins, and metal debris. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The radioactive ions were major composed by uranium and fission products. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Diatomite-based ceramic depth filter can simultaneously removal radioactive solids and ions. - Abstract: There were approximately 926 m{sup 3} of water contaminated by fission products and actinides in the Taiwan Research Reactor's spent fuel pool (TRR SFP). The solid and ionic contaminants were thoroughly characterized using radiochemical analyses, scanning electron microscopy equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS), and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) in this study. The sludge was made up of agglomerates contaminated by spent fuel particles. Suspended solids from spent ion-exchange resins interfered with the clarity of the water. In addition, the ionic radionuclides such as {sup 137}Cs, {sup 90}Sr, U, and {alpha}-emitters, present in the water were measured. Various filters and cation-exchange resins were employed for water treatment trials, and the results indicated that the solid and ionic contaminants could be effectively removed through the use of <0.9 {mu}m filters and cation exchange resins, respectively. Interestingly, the removal of U was obviously efficient by cation exchange resin, and the ceramic depth filter composed of diatomite exhibited the properties of both filtration and adsorption. It was found that the ceramic depth filter could adsorb {beta}-emitters, {alpha}-emitters, and uranium ions. The diatomite-based ceramic depth filter was able to simultaneously

This report documents the analysis of the biomass fuelcycle, in which biomass is combusted to produce electricity. The major objectives of this study were: (1) to implement the methodological concepts which were developed in the Background Document (ORNL/RFF 1992) as a means of estimating the external costs and benefits of fuelcycles, and by so doing, to demonstrate their application to the biomass fuelcycle; (2) to develop, given the time and resources, a range of estimates of marginal (i.e., the additional or incremental) damages and benefits associated with selected impact-pathways from a new wood-fired power plant, using a representative benchmark technology, at two reference sites in the US; and (3) to assess the state of the information available to support energy decision making and the estimation of externalities, and by so doing, to assist in identifying gaps in knowledge and in setting future research agendas. The demonstration of methods, modeling procedures, and use of scientific information was the most important objective of this study. It provides an illustrative example for those who will, in the future, undertake studies of actual energy options and sites. As in most studies, a more comprehensive analysis could have been completed had budget constraints not been as severe. Particularly affected were the air and water transport modeling, estimation of ecological impacts, and economic valuation. However, the most important objective of the study was to demonstrate methods, as a detailed example for future studies. Thus, having severe budget constraints was appropriate from the standpoint that these studies could also face similar constraints. Consequently, an important result of this study is an indication of what can be done in such studies, rather than the specific numerical estimates themselves.

Building on previous internal investments and leveraging ongoing advancements in semantic technologies, PNNL implemented a formal reasoning framework and applied it to a specific challenge in nuclear nonproliferation. The Semantic Nonproliferation Analysis Platform (SNAP) was developed as a preliminary graphical user interface to demonstrate the potential power of the underlying semantic technologies to analyze and explore facts and relationships relating to the nuclear fuelcycle (NFC). In developing this proof of concept prototype, the utility and relevancy of semantic technologies to the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development (DNN R&D) has been better understood.

The Advanced FuelCycle Initiative (AFCI) Systems Analysis supports engineering economic analyses and trade-studies, and requires a requisite reference cost basis to support adequate analysis rigor. In this regard, the AFCI program has created a reference set of economic documentation. The documentation consists of the “Advanced FuelCycle (AFC) Cost Basis” report (Shropshire, et al. 2007), “AFCI Economic Analysis” report, and the “AFCI Economic Tools, Algorithms, and Methodologies Report.” Together, these documents provide the reference cost basis, cost modeling basis, and methodologies needed to support AFCI economic analysis. The application of the reference cost data in the cost and econometric systems analysis models will be supported by this report. These methodologies include: the energy/environment/economic evaluation of nuclear technology penetration in the energy market—domestic and internationally—and impacts on AFCI facility deployment, uranium resource modeling to inform the front-end fuelcycle costs, facility first-of-a-kind to nth-of-a-kind learning with application to deployment of AFCI facilities, cost tradeoffs to meet nuclear non-proliferation requirements, and international nuclear facility supply/demand analysis. The economic analysis will be performed using two cost models. VISION.ECON will be used to evaluate and compare costs under dynamic conditions, consistent with the cases and analysis performed by the AFCI Systems Analysis team. Generation IV Excel Calculations of Nuclear Systems (G4-ECONS) will provide static (snapshot-in-time) cost analysis and will provide a check on the dynamic results. In future analysis, additional AFCI measures may be developed to show the value of AFCI in closing the fuelcycle. Comparisons can show AFCI in terms of reduced global proliferation (e.g., reduction in enrichment), greater sustainability through preservation of a natural resource (e.g., reduction in uranium ore depletion), value from

The report is a brief review of the most important directions in research activity of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of RAS (Moscow) in the field of nuclear fuelcycle. The main attention is paid to researches and developments on liquid radioactive waste management including the removal of wastes to deep geological formations and the immobilization of the wastes. In particular, the data from the study on the properties of new, basaltic-like matrices for the immobilization are presented. The results of research on gas evolution from the systems modeling liquid high-level radioactive wastes are considered. The separation of some radionuclides from irradiated nuclear and the production of radiation sources by various methods are discussed. (author)

Henriques, I.; Sadorsky, P. [York Univ., Toronto, ON (Canada). Schulich School of Business

2005-07-01

Fuel cells are expected to play a major role in a hydrogen powered world. They will provide power to homes, modes of transportation and appliances. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in nature, but it must be extracted in order to be usable. It can be produced from oil, natural gas and coal or from renewable sources such as biomass, thermal or nuclear reactions. Fuel cells running on hydrogen extracted from non renewable resources have an efficiency of 30 per cent, which is twice as efficient as an internal combustion engine. The greatest barrier to mass commercialization is the cost of making hydrogen-powered auto engines. Also, an infrastructure must be developed to refill hydrogen cars. One solution is to build a hydrogen highway using the existing natural gas grid to produce hydrogen and sell it at existing filling stations. The cost of building 12,000 refueling pumps in urban areas which will provide access to 70 per cent of America's population is estimated at $10 to $15 billion. This paper described the vector autoregression (VAR) model which empirically examines the relationship between financial performance of fuel cell companies and business cycles. It was used to measure how sensitive the financial performance of fuel cell companies are to changes in macroeconomic activity. A four variable VAR model was developed to examine the relationship between stock prices, oil prices and interest rates. It was shown that the stock prices of fuel cell companies are affected by shocks to technology stock prices and oil prices, with the former having a longer lasting impact. These results add to the growing literature that oil price movements are not as important as once thought. 15 refs., 3 tabs., 3 figs.

This paper applies a novel decision making methodology to a case study involving choices leading to the transition from the current once-through light water reactor fuelcycle to one relying on continuous recycle of plutonium and minor actinides in fast reactors in the face of uncertain fast reactor capital costs. Unique to this work is a multi-stage treatment of a range of plausible trajectories for the evolution of fast reactor capital costs over time, characterized by first-of-a-kind penalties as well as time- and unit-based learning. The methodology explicitly incorporates uncertainties in key parameters into the decision-making process by constructing a stochastic model and embedding uncertainties as bifurcations in the decision tree. “Hedging” strategies are found by applying a choice criterion to select courses of action which mitigate “regrets”. These regrets are calculated by evaluating the performance of all possible transition strategies for every feasible outcome of the uncertain parameter. The hedging strategies are those that preserve the most flexibility for adjusting the fuelcycle strategy in response to new information as uncertainties are resolved.

Full Text Available In the present paper we have attempted to associate quantified impacts with a forecasted nuclear energy development in different world regions, under a range of hypotheses on the energy demand growth. It gives results in terms of availability of uranium resources, required deployment of fuelcycle facilities and reactor types. In particular, the need to achieve short doubling times with future fast reactors is investigated and quantified in specific world regions. It has been found that a crucial feature of any world scenario study is to provide not only trends for an idealized “homogeneous” description of the global world, but also trends for different regions in the world. These regions may be selected using rather simple criteria (mostly of a geographical type, in order to apply different hypotheses for energy demand growth, fuelcycle strategies and the implementation of various reactor types for the different regions. This approach was an attempt to avoid focusing on selected countries, in particular on those where no new significant energy demand growth is expected, but instead to provide trends and conclusions that account for the features of countries that will be major players in the world energy development in the future.

The concepts of international control over technologies and materials in the proliferation sensitive parts of the nuclear fuelcycle, specifically those related to enrichment and reprocessing, have been the subject of many studies and initiatives over the years. For examples: the International Fissionable Material Storage proposal in President Eisenhower's Speech on Atoms for Peace, and in the Charter of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) when the organization was formed in 1957; the regional nuclear fuelcycle center centers proposed by INFCE in the 80's; and most recently and notably, proposals by Dr. ElBaradei, the Director General of IAEA to limit production and processing of nuclear weapons usable materials to facilities under multinational control; and by U.S. President George W. Bush, to limit enrichment and reprocessing to States that have already full scale, functioning plants. There are other recent proposals on this subject as well. In this paper, the similarities and differences, as well as the effectiveness and challenges in proliferation prevention of these proposals and concepts will be discussed. The intent is to articulate a ''new nuclear regime'' and to develop concrete steps to implement such regime for future nuclear energy and deployment.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission amended its regulations to set forth the technical and financial criteria for decommissioning licensed nuclear facilities. These regulations were further amended to establish additional recordkeeping requirements for decommissioning; to establish timeframes and schedules for the decommissioning; and to clarify that financial assurance requirements must be in place during operations and updated when licensed operations cease. Reviews of the Site Decommissioning Management Plan (SDMP) program found that, while the NRC staff was overseeing the decommissioning program at nuclear facilities in a manner that was protective of public health and safety, progress in decommissioning many sites was slow. As a result NRC determined that formal written procedures should be developed to facilitate the timely decommissioning of licensed nuclear facilities. This handbook was developed to aid NRC staff in achieving this goal. It is intended to be used as a reference document to, and in conjunction with, NRC Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 2605, ``Decommissioning Inspection Program for FuelCycle and Materials Licensees.`` The policies and procedures discussed in this handbook should be used by NRC staff overseeing the decommissioning program at licensed fuelcycle and materials sites; formerly licensed sites for which the licenses were terminated; sites involving source, special nuclear, or byproduct material subject to NRC regulation for which a license was never issued; and sites in the NRC`s SDMP program. NRC staff overseeing the decommissioning program at nuclear reactor facilities subject to regulation under 10 CFR Part 50 are not required to use the procedures discussed in this handbook.

Highlights: • A novel fuelcycle simulation entity interaction mechanism is proposed. • A framework and implementation of the mechanism is described. • New facility outage and regional interaction scenario studies are described and analyzed. - Abstract: Simulation of the nuclear fuelcycle can be performed using a wide range of techniques and methodologies. Past efforts have focused on specific fuelcycles or reactor technologies. The CYCLUS fuelcycle simulator seeks to separate the design of the simulation from the fuelcycle or technologies of interest. In order to support this separation, a robust supply–demand communication and solution framework is required. Accordingly an agent-based supply-chain framework, the Dynamic Resource Exchange (DRE), has been designed implemented in CYCLUS. It supports the communication of complex resources, namely isotopic compositions of nuclear fuel, between fuelcycle facilities and their managers (e.g., institutions and regions). Instances of supply and demand are defined as an optimization problem and solved for each timestep. Importantly, the DRE allows each agent in the simulation to independently indicate preference for specific trading options in order to meet both physics requirements and satisfy constraints imposed by potential socio-political models. To display the variety of possible simulations that the DRE enables, example scenarios are formulated and described. Important features include key fuel-cycle facility outages, introduction of external recycled fuel sources (similar to the current mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility in the United States), and nontrivial interactions between fuelcycles existing in different regions.

Low-level nontransuranic wastes are generated in all nuclear fuelcycle operations. While the activity levels and radiotoxicities of these effluents are generally of a lower magnitude than other fuelcycle wastes, their large volumes and their appearance throughout the fuelcycle make their management a very real concern regardless of the fuelcycle option being considered. Low-level nontransuranic wastes are defined here as wastes that contain less than about 10 nCi of long-lived alpha radiation per gram and have gamma radiations low enough to require only minimal biological shielding and remote handling. Wastes from uranium mining and milling, UF/sub 6/ conversion, enrichment, fuel fabrication, and fuel reprocessing are examined with respect to their radionuclide content, volume, and chemical composition. Projections of total quantities through the end of this century are also presented. Fuelcycles based on recycling only uranium, and on recycling both uranium and plutonium, are considered.

Full Text Available In the 1980ies, Siempelkamp foundry in Krefeld, Germany, developed a process to melt medium and slightly radioactive metals from decommissioning and maintenance works in nuclear power plants. Since 1989, in the CARLA melting plant which is licensed according to the German radiation protection ordinance (StrlSchV, metals are being molten which, for the largest part, can be reused. Since 1998, in a second plant, the GERTA melting plant, metals with a content of mercury up to 1 weight %, natural radioactivity up to 500 Bq/g and other chemical contaminations are being molten and completely decontaminated, so that these metals can be reused in the steel cycle. The following text is describing the melting process, acceptance criteria for contaminated scrap and recycling paths for the produced ingots and slags.

The feedback from the accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant is crucial for defining and implementing measures for preventing accidents involving large releases of radioactive material at nuclear installations, including nuclear fuelcycle facilities. Following the lessons learned from this accident, assessment of the safety of nuclear fuelcycle facilities is essential to evaluate the robustness of the facilities' protection systems and components against the impact of extreme external events. A methodology to perform this safety assessment is presented, with discussions on possible preventive measures to be applied and mitigatory actions to be taken for further improvement of the robustness of nuclear fuelcycle facilities when subjected to extreme external events. Considerations in the assessment of multi-facility sites and use of a graded approach, commensurate with the facility's potential hazard, in application of the safety assessment methodology are also discussed.

A dynamic simulation code for the fuelcycle of a fusion experimental reactor has been developed. The code follows the fuel inventory change with time in the plasma chamber and the fuelcycle system during a single pulse operation. The time dependence of the fuel inventory distribution is evaluated considering the fuel burn and exhaust in the plasma chamber, purification and supply functions. For each subsystem of the plasma chamber and the fuelcycle system, the fuel inventory equation is written based on the equation of state considering the function of fuel burn, exhaust, purification, and supply. The processing constants of subsystem for the steady states were taken from the values in the ITER Conceptual Design Activity (CDA) report. Using the code, the time dependence of the fuel supply and inventory depending on the burn state and subsystem processing functions are shown. (author)

High-Level Functional & Operational Requirements for the AFCF -This document describes the principal functional and operational requirements for the proposed Advanced FuelCycle Facility (AFCF). The AFCF is intended to be the world's foremost facility for nuclear fuelcycle research, technology development, and demonstration. The facility will also support the near-term mission to develop and demonstrate technology in support of fuelcycle needs identified by industry, and the long-term mission to retain and retain U.S. leadership in fuelcycle operations. The AFCF is essential to demonstrate a more proliferation-resistant fuelcycle and make long-term improvements in fuelcycle effectiveness, performance and economy.

In this paper the basic features of a closed fuelcycle with thermal reactors are considered. The three variants of multiple Pu and U recycling in VVER reactors was investigated. The comparison of MOX and REMIX fuel approaches for closed fuelcycle with thermal reactors is presented. All variants make possible to recycle several times the total amount of Pu and U obtained from spent fuel. The reported study was funded by RFBR according to the research project № 16-38-00021

The report describes information exchange and discussion about the licensing principles and procedures for spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste transportation at sea. Russian health, environment and safety requirements for transportation of waste by ships. (Author)

This report aims to clarify many of the issues being discussed within the AFCI program, including Inert Matrix Fuel (IMF) versus Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel, single-pass versus multi-pass recycling, thermal versus fast reactors, potential need for transmutation of technetium and iodine, and the value of separating cesium and strontium. It documents most of the work produced by INL, ANL, and SNL personnel under their Simulation, Evaluation, and Trade Study (SETS) work packages during FY2005 and the first half of FY2006. This report represents the first attempt to calculate a full range of metrics, covering all four AFCI program objectives - waste management, proliferation resistance, energy recovery, and systematic management/economics/safety - using a combination of "static" calculations and a system dynamic model, DYMOND. In many cases, we examine the same issue both dynamically and statically to determine the robustness of the observations. All analyses are for the U.S. reactor fleet. This is a technical report, not aimed at a policy-level audience. A wide range of options are studied to provide the technical basis for identifying the most attractive options and potential improvements. Option improvement could be vital to accomplish before the AFCI program publishes definitive cost estimates. Information from this report will be extracted and summarized in future policy-level reports. Many dynamic simulations of deploying those options are included. There are few "control knobs" for flying or piloting the fuelcycle system into the future, even though it is dark (uncertain) and controls are sluggish with slow time response: what types of reactors are built, what types of fuels are used, and the capacity of separation and fabrication plants. Piloting responsibilities are distributed among utilities, government, and regulators, compounding the challenge of making the entire system work and respond to changing circumstances. We identify four approaches that would

Since tritium resources are very limited, economical conversion of fusion energy to electricity and/or heat must have an enough margin to keep self-fuel-sufficiency and simultaneously ensure tritium safety. To realize this, tritium inventory in reactor systems, which use ∼10{sup 17} Bq (a few kg) of tritium, should be kept as small as possible, under strict accountancy or regulation of a few tens Bq (∼pg). In present tokamaks, however, hydrogen retention rate is significantly large, i.e. more than 5% of fueled hydrogen is continuously piled up in their vacuum vessels, which must not be allowed in a reactor. Moreover, both fuelling and burning efficiencies are very poor, only a few % or less. Accordingly, huge amount of tritium fuel must be recycled. In the paper, after the introduction of tritium as a hydrogen radioisotope, important issues to establish safe and economical tritium fuelcycle for a fusion reactor will be summarized considering the handling of large amounts of tritium, i.e. confinement, leakage, contamination, permeation, regulation and tritium accountancy.

All mass streams from fuel separation and fabrication are products that must meet some set of product criteria – fuel feedstock impurity limits, waste acceptance criteria (WAC), material storage (if any), or recycle material purity requirements such as zirconium for cladding or lanthanides for industrial use. These must be considered in a systematic and comprehensive way. The FIT model and the “system losses study” team that developed it [Shropshire2009, Piet2010b] are steps by the FuelCycle Technology program toward an analysis that accounts for the requirements and capabilities of each fuelcycle component, as well as major material flows within an integrated fuelcycle. This will help the program identify near-term R&D needs and set longer-term goals. This report describes FIT 2, an update of the original FIT model.[Piet2010c] FIT is a method to analyze different fuelcycles; in particular, to determine how changes in one part of a fuelcycle (say, fuel burnup, cooling, or separation efficiencies) chemically affect other parts of the fuelcycle. FIT provides the following: Rough estimate of physics and mass balance feasibility of combinations of technologies. If feasibility is an issue, it provides an estimate of how performance would have to change to achieve feasibility. Estimate of impurities in fuel and impurities in waste as function of separation performance, fuel fabrication, reactor, uranium source, etc.

All mass streams from fuel separation and fabrication are products that must meet some set of product criteria – fuel feedstock impurity limits, waste acceptance criteria (WAC), material storage (if any), or recycle material purity requirements such as zirconium for cladding or lanthanides for industrial use. These must be considered in a systematic and comprehensive way. The FIT model and the “system losses study” team that developed it [Shropshire2009, Piet2010b] are steps by the FuelCycle Technology program toward an analysis that accounts for the requirements and capabilities of each fuelcycle component, as well as major material flows within an integrated fuelcycle. This will help the program identify near-term R&D needs and set longer-term goals. This report describes FIT 2, an update of the original FIT model.[Piet2010c] FIT is a method to analyze different fuelcycles; in particular, to determine how changes in one part of a fuelcycle (say, fuel burnup, cooling, or separation efficiencies) chemically affect other parts of the fuelcycle. FIT provides the following: Rough estimate of physics and mass balance feasibility of combinations of technologies. If feasibility is an issue, it provides an estimate of how performance would have to change to achieve feasibility. Estimate of impurities in fuel and impurities in waste as function of separation performance, fuel fabrication, reactor, uranium source, etc.

The Global Nuclear Vision Project is examining, using scenario building techniques, a range of long-term nuclear energy futures. The exploration and assessment of optimal nuclear fuel-cycle and material strategies is an essential element of the study. To this end, an established global E{sup 3} (energy/economics/environmental) model has been adopted and modified with a simplified, but comprehensive and multi-regional, nuclear energy module. Consistent nuclear energy scenarios are constructed using this multi-regional E{sup 3} model, wherein future demands for nuclear power are projected in price competition with other energy sources under a wide range of long-term demographic (population, workforce size and productivity), economic (price-, population-, and income-determined demand for energy services, price- and population-modified GNP, resource depletion, world-market fossil energy prices), policy (taxes, tariffs, sanctions), and top-level technological (energy intensity and end-use efficiency improvements) drivers. Using the framework provided by the global E{sup 3} model, the impacts of both external and internal drivers are investigated. The ability to connect external and internal drivers through this modeling framework allows the study of impacts and tradeoffs between fossil- versus nuclear-fuel burning, that includes interactions between cost, environmental, proliferation, resource, and policy issues.

A concept of DT-fusion neutron source (FNS) with the neutron yield higher than 10{sup 18} neutrons per second is under design in Russia. Such a FNS is of interest for many applications: 1) basic and applied research (neutron scattering, etc); 2) testing the structural materials for fusion reactors; 3) control of sub-critical nuclear systems and 4) nuclear waste processing (including transmutation of minor actinides). This paper describes the fuelcycle concept of a compact fusion neutron source based on a small spherical tokamak (FNS-ST) with a MW range of DT fusion power and considers the key physics issues of this device. The major and minor radii are ∼0.5 and ∼0.3 m, magnetic field ∼1.5 T, heating power less than 15 MW and plasma current 1-2 MA. The system provides the fuel mixture with equal fractions of D and T (D:T = 1:1) for all FNS technology systems. (authors)

Full Text Available This paper presents the fuel consumption engine map for a 1.3L Perodua Myvi passenger car. The engine dynamometer and the engine throttle are controlled, to create the operating conditions for the engine map. Interpolation work is done in MATLAB, to create a 3D fuel consumption engine map. The engine map is used in a fuel-economy estimation simulation, using the city and the highway drive cycles based on Malaysian roads. The fuel economy values generated from the simulations are similar to experimental fuel consumption results.

Fuelcycle studies reported for this period include studies of advanced solvent extraction techniques focussed on the development of centrifugal contactors for use in Purex processes. Miniature single-stage and eight-stage centrifugal contactors are being employed in studies of contactor performance and the kinetics of extraction. A 9-cm-ID centrifugal contactor has been completed, and fabrication drawings are being prepared for a plant-scale contactor. In other work, tricaprylmethyl-ammonium nitrate and di-n-amyl n-amylphosphonate are being evaluated as extractants in the Thorex process. Literature on the dispersion of liquids by explosions is being reviewed. A process was developed for extracting TBP degradation products from TBP-Na/sub 2/CO/sub 3/ scrub solutions while the actinides remain with the raffinate. In the program on pyrochemical and dry processing of nuclear fuel, the literature is being reviewed for acceptable materials for containment vessels, decladding methods are being evaluated, salt transport processes are being studied, a candidate flow sheet (based upon the Dow Aluminum Pyrometallurgical process) for reprocessing spent uranium metal fuel was prepared, work was begun on the use of molten salts for reprocessing actinide oxides, and the reprocessing of (Th,U)O/sub 2/ solid solution in a KCl-LiCl salt containing ThCl/sub 4/ and thorium chips was studied. Work on the encapsulation of solidified radioactive waste in a metal matrix includes study of (1) chemical interactions between simulated waste forms and matrix metals, (2) the leach rates of simulated encapsulated waste forms, and (3) the corrosion of candidate matrix metals and canister materials in brine solutions.Work to establish criteria for the handling of waste cladding hulls is continuing. The transport properties of nuclear waste in geologic media are being studied to estimate leaching of radionuclides from deep repositories by groundwater.

Results are presented on the fluidized-bed calcination of simulated radioactive waste from the reprocessing of spent commercial nuclear fuel and on the removal of actinide elements from the waste prior to calcination. Other programs include the development of storage technology for /sup 85/Kr waste; and the behavior of volatile radionuclides during the combustion of HTGR graphite-based fuel. The long-term management of defense waste from the ICPP covers post-calcination treatment of ICPP calcined waste; the removal of actinide elements from first-cycle raffinate; the retrieval and handling of calcined waste from ICPP storage vaults; and the preparation of the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement on ICPP waste. Process improvements are reported on the Fluorinel headend process for Zircaloy-clad fuels and on uranium accountability measurements. Other development results cover the process for recovering spent Rover fuel, buried pipeline transfer systems, support to the Waste Management Program, Waste Calcining Facility support, New Waste Calcining Facility support, and effluent monitoring methods evaluation and development. In this category are studies on nuclear materials security, application of a liquid-solid fluidized-bed heat exchanger to the recovery of geothermal heat, inplant reactor source term measurements, burnup methods for fast breeder reactor fuels, absolute thermal fission yield measurements, analytical support to light water breeder reactor development, research on analytical methods, and the behavior of environmental species of iodine.

Studies on the extraction of actinide ions from radioactive feeds have great relevance in nuclear fuelcycle activities, mainly in the back end processes focused on reprocessing and waste management. Room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) based diluents are becoming increasingly popular due to factors such as more efficient extraction vis-à-vis molecular diluents, higher metal loading, higher radiation resistance, etc. The fascinating chemistry of the actinide ions in RTIL based solvent systems due to complex extraction mechanisms makes it a challenging area of research. By the suitable tuning of the cationic and anionic parts of the ionic liquids, their physical properties such as density, dielectric constant and viscosity can be changed which are considered key parameters in metal ion extraction. Aqueous solubility of the RTILs, which can lead to significant loss in the solvent inventory, can be avoided by appending the extractant moieties onto the ionic liquid. While the low vapour pressure and non-flammability of the ionic liquids make them appear as 'green' diluents, their aqueous solubility raises concerns of environmental hazards. The present article gives a summary of studies carried out on actinide ion extraction and presents perspectives of its applications in the nuclear fuelcycle. The article discusses various extractants used for actinide ion extraction and at many places, comparison is made vis-à-vis molecular diluents which includes the nature of the extracted species and the mechanism of extraction. Results of studies on rare earth elements are also included in view of their similarities with the trivalent minor actinides.

Determining whether to break away from domestic conflict surrounding nuclear power and step forward for public consensus can be identified by transparent policy making considering public acceptability. In this context, deriving the best suitable nuclear fuelcycle for Korea is the key task in current situation. Assessing nuclear fuelcycle is a multicriteria decision making problem dealing with multiple interconnected issues on efficiently using natural uranium resources, securing an environment friendliness to deal with waste, obtaining the public acceptance, ensuring peaceful uses of nuclear energy, maintaining economic competitiveness compared to other electricity sources, and assessing technical feasibility of advanced nuclear energy systems. This paper performed the integrated AHP and TOPSIS analysis on three nuclear fuelcycle options against 5 different criteria including U utilization, waste management, material attractiveness, economics, and technical feasibility. The fuelcycle options analyzed in this paper are three different fuelcycle options as follows: PWR-Once through cycle(PWR-OT), PWR-MOX cycle, Pyro- SFR cycle. These fuelcycles are most likely to be adopted in the foreseeable future. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution). The analyzed nuclear fuelcycle options include the once-through cycle, the PWR-MOX recycle, and the Pyro-SFR recycle.

In the basic design of gas turbine high temperature reactor (GTHTR300), reduction of the fuelcycle cost has a large benefit of improving overall plant economy. Then, fuelcycle cost was evaluated for GTHTR300. First, of fuel fabrication for high-temperature gas cooled reactor, since there was no actual experience with a commercial scale, a preliminary design for a fuel fabrication plant with annual processing of 7.7 ton-U sufficient four GTHTR300 was performed, and fuel fabrication cost was evaluated. Second, fuelcycle cost was evaluated based on the equilibrium cycle of GTHTR300. The factors which were considered in this cost evaluation include uranium price, conversion, enrichment, fabrication, storage of spent fuel, reprocessing, and waste disposal. The fuelcycle cost of GTHTR300 was estimated at about 1.07 yen/kWh. If the back-end cost of reprocessing and waste disposal is included and assumed to be nearly equivalent to LWR, the fuelcycle cost of GTHTR300 was estimated to be about 1.31 yen/kWh. Furthermore, the effects on fuel fabrication cost by such of fuel specification parameters as enrichment, the number of fuel types, and the layer thickness were considered. Even if the enrichment varies from 10 to 20%, the number of fuel types change from 1 to 4, the 1st layer thickness of fuel changes by 30 {mu}m, or the 2nd layer to the 4th layer thickness of fuel changes by 10 {mu}m, the impact on fuel fabrication cost was evaluated to be negligible. (author)

To contribute to the Department of Energy's identification of needs for improved environmental controls in nuclear fuelcycles, a study was made of a light water reactor system. A reference LWR fuelcycle was defined, and each step in this cycle was characterized by facility description and mainline and effluent treatment process performance. The reference fuelcycle uses fresh uranium in light water reactors. Final treatment and ultimate disposition of waste from the fuelcycle steps were not included, and the waste is assumed to be disposed of by approved but currently undefined means. The characterization of the reference fuelcycle system is intended as basic information for further evaluation of alternative effluent control systems.

To contribute to the Department of Energy's identification of needs for improved environmental controls in nuclear fuelcycles, a study was made of a light water reactor system. A reference LWR fuelcycle was defined, and each step in this cycle was characterized by facility description and mainline and effluent treatment process performance. The reference fuelcycle uses fresh uranium in light water reactors. Final treatment and ultimate disposition of waste from the fuelcycle steps were not included, and the waste is assumed to be disposed of by approved but currently undefined means. The characterization of the reference fuelcycle system is intended as basic information for further evaluation of alternative effluent control systems.

The Carlos III Health Institute and the Nuclear Safety Council, signed an agreement for the performance of an epidemiological study to investigate the possible effects of exposure to ionising radiations on the health of populations living in the vicinity of nuclear and radioactive facilities involved in the nuclear fuelcycle. (Author)

Full Text Available The concept of closed nuclear fuelcycle seems to be the most promising options for the efficient usage of the nuclear energy resources. However, it can be implemented only in fast breeder reactors of the IVth generation, which are characterized by the fast neutron spectrum. The lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR was defined and studied on the level of technical design in order to demonstrate its performance and reliability within the European collaboration on ELSY (European Lead-cooled System and LEADER (Lead-cooled European Advanced Demonstration Reactor projects. It has been demonstrated that LFR meets the requirements of the closed nuclear fuelcycle, where plutonium and minor actinides (MA are recycled for reuse, thereby producing no MA waste. In this study, the most promising option was realized when entire Pu + MA material is fully recycled to produce a new batch of fuel without partitioning. This is the concept of a fuelcycle which asymptotically tends to the adiabatic equilibrium, where the concentrations of plutonium and MA at the beginning of the cycle are restored in the subsequent cycle in the combined process of fuel transmutation and cooling, removal of fission products (FPs, and admixture of depleted uranium. In this way, generation of nuclear waste containing radioactive plutonium and MA can be eliminated. The paper shows methodology applied to the LFR equilibrium fuelcycle assessment, which was developed for the Monte Carlo continuous energy burnup (MCB code, equipped with enhanced modules for material processing and fuel handling. The numerical analysis of the reactor core concerns multiple recycling and recovery of long-lived nuclides and their influence on safety parameters. The paper also presents a general concept of the novel IVth generation breeder reactor with equilibrium fuel and its future role in the management of MA.

This paper presented during the Cea Seminar on the nuclear systems of the future deals with the fuels and cycles of the fourth generation systems. Four goal areas have been defined for these systems: sustainable for the environment, economical for the investment, safety and reliability, a better protection against the proliferation. The different fuels and cycles of the research programs are detailed. (A.L.B.)

The measurement device on 200 liters barrel of radioactive waste is designed following the rule of orderly measurement automatically, by using the technology of non-destructive to measure the mass of radioactive waste produced from fuelcycle. Device objects as shown in Fig. 1, which consists of the

The mission of the Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) is to perform Research, Development, and Demonstration (RD&D) activities for advanced fuel forms (including cladding) to enhance the performance and safety of the nation’s current and future reactors, enhance proliferation resistance of nuclear fuel, effectively utilize nuclear energy resources, and address the longer-term waste management challenges. This includes development of a state of the art Research and Development (R&D) infrastructure to support the use of a “goal oriented science based approach.” AFC uses a “goal oriented, science based approach” aimed at a fundamental understanding of fuel and cladding fabrication methods and performance under irradiation, enabling the pursuit of multiple fuel forms for future fuelcycle options. This approach includes fundamental experiments, theory, and advanced modeling and simulation. One of the most challenging aspects of AFC is the management, integration, and coordination of major R&D activities across multiple organizations. AFC interfaces and collaborates with FuelCycle Technologies (FCT) campaigns, universities, industry, various DOE programs and laboratories, federal agencies (e.g., Nuclear Regulatory Commission [NRC]), and international organizations. Key challenges are the development of fuel technologies to enable major increases in fuel performance (safety, reliability, power and burnup) beyond current technologies, and development of characterization methods and predictive fuel performance models to enable more efficient development and licensing of advanced fuels. Challenged with the research and development of fuels for two different reactor technology platforms, AFC targeted transmutation fuel development and focused ceramic fuel development for Advanced LWR Fuels.

The Advanced FuelCycle Economic Analysis of Symbiotic Light-Water Reactor and Fast Burner Reactor Systems, prepared to support the U.S. Advanced FuelCycle Initiative (AFCI) systems analysis, provides a technology-oriented baseline system cost comparison between the open fuelcycle and closed fuelcycle systems. The intent is to understand their overall cost trends, cost sensitivities, and trade-offs. This analysis also improves the AFCI Program’s understanding of the cost drivers that will determine nuclear power’s cost competitiveness vis-a-vis other baseload generation systems. The common reactor-related costs consist of capital, operating, and decontamination and decommissioning costs. Fuelcycle costs include front-end (pre-irradiation) and back-end (post-iradiation) costs, as well as costs specifically associated with fuel recycling. This analysis reveals that there are large cost uncertainties associated with all the fuelcycle strategies, and that overall systems (reactor plus fuelcycle) using a closed fuelcycle are about 10% more expensive in terms of electricity generation cost than open cycle systems. The study concludes that further U.S. and joint international-based design studies are needed to reduce the cost uncertainties with respect to fast reactor, fuel separation and fabrication, and waste disposition. The results of this work can help provide insight to the cost-related factors and conditions needed to keep nuclear energy (including closed fuelcycles) economically competitive in the U.S. and worldwide. These results may be updated over time based on new cost information, revised assumptions, and feedback received from additional reviews.

Uranium alloys in a monolithic form have been considered attractive candidates for high density nuclear fuel. However, this high-density fissile material configuration keeps the volume permitted for the retention of fission products at a minimum. Additionally, the monolithic nuclear fuel has a peculiar configuration, whereby the fuel is in direct contact with the cladding. How this fuel configuration will retain fission products and how this will affect its integrity under various physical conditions - such as thermal cycling - are some of the technological problems for this new fuel. In this paper, the effect of out-of-pile thermal cycling is studied for a monolithic fuel plate produced by a hot co-rolling method using U-10Mo (wt %) as the fuel alloy and Zircaloy-4 as the cladding material. After performing 10 thermal cycles from 25 to 400 °C at a rate of 1 °C/min (∼125 h), the fuel alloy presented several fractures that were observed to occur in the last three cycles. These cracks nucleated approximately in the center of the fuel alloy and crossed the interdiffusion zone initiating an internal crack in the cladding. The results suggest that the origin of these fractures is the thermal fatigue of the U-10Mo alloy caused due to the combination of two factors: (i) the high difference in the thermal expansion coefficient of the fuel and of the cladding material, and (ii) the bound condition of fuel/cladding materials in this fuel element configuration.

A life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to compare the environmental footprint of current and possible fuels used for cooking within China and India. Current fuel mix profiles are compared to scenarios of projected differences in and/or cleaner cooking fuels. Results are repo...

The programs and plans of the U.S. government for the "back end of the nuclear fuelcycle" were examined to determine if there were any significant technological or regulatory gaps and inconsistencies. Particular emphasis was placed on analysis of high-level nuclear waste management plans, since the permanent disposal of radioactive waste has emerged as a major factor in the public acceptance of nuclear power. The implications of various light water reactor fuelcycle options were examined including throwaway, stowaway, uranium recycle, and plutonium plus uranium recycle. The results of this study indicate that the U.S. program for high-level waste management has significant gaps and inconsistencies. Areas of greatest concern include: the adequacy of the scientific data base for geological disposal; programs for the the disposal of spent fuel rods; interagency coordination; and uncertainties in NRC regulatory requirements for disposal of both commercial and military high-level waste.

AbstractThis paper approaches the choice between the open and closed nuclear fuelcycles as a matter of intergenerational justice, by revealing the value conflicts in the production of nuclear energy. The closed fuelcycle improve sustainability in terms of the supply certainty of uranium and involv

...The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is withdrawing draft NUREG-2154, ``Acceptability of Corrective Action Programs for FuelCycle Facilities,'' based on receipt and review of public comments. The draft NUREG provided guidance to NRC staff on how to determine whether a submittal for a Corrective Action Program (CAP), voluntarily submitted by fuelcycle facility licensees, was......

This research concerns the fuelcycle and safety aspects of a Gas Cooled Fast Reactor, one of the so-called "Generation IV" nuclear reactor designs. The Generation IV Gas Cooled Fast Reactor uses helium as coolant at high temperature. The goal of the GCFR is to obtain a "closed nuclear fuelcycle",

This research concerns the fuelcycle and safety aspects of a Gas Cooled Fast Reactor, one of the so-called "Generation IV" nuclear reactor designs. The Generation IV Gas Cooled Fast Reactor uses helium as coolant at high temperature. The goal of the GCFR is to obtain a "closed nuclear fuelcycle",

An Evaluation and Screening team supporting the FuelCycle Technologies Program Office of the United States Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy is conducting an evaluation and screening of a comprehensive set of fuelcycle options. These options have been assigned to one of 40 evaluation groups, each of which has a representative fuelcycle option [Todosow 2013]. A FuelCycle Data Package System Datasheet has been prepared for each representative fuelcycle option to ensure that the technical information used in the evaluation is high-quality and traceable [Kim, et al., 2013]. The information contained in the FuelCycle Data Packages has been entered into the Nuclear FuelCycle Options Catalog at Sandia National Laboratories so that it is accessible by the evaluation and screening team and other interested parties. In addition, an independent team at Savannah River National Laboratory has verified that the information has been entered into the catalog correctly. This report documents that the 40 representative fuelcycle options have been entered into the Catalog, and that the data entered into the catalog for the 40 representative options has been entered correctly.

Highlights: • The nuclear fuelcycle cost using a new cost estimation model was analyzed. • The material flows of three nuclear fuelcycle options were calculated. • The generation cost of once-through was estimated to be 66.88 mills/kW h. • The generation cost of pyro-SFR recycling was estimated to be 78.06 mills/kW h. • The reactor cost was identified as the main cost driver of pyro-SFR recycling. - Abstract: The present study analyzes advanced nuclear fuelcycle cost estimation models such as the different discount rate model and its cost estimation results. To do so, an analysis of the nuclear fuelcycle cost of three options (direct disposal (once through), PWR–MOX (Mixed OXide fuel), and Pyro-SFR (Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor)) from the viewpoint of economic sense, focusing on the cost estimation model, was conducted using a dynamic model. From an analysis of the fuelcycle cost estimation results, it was found that some cost gap exists between the traditional same discount rate model and the advanced different discount rate model. However, this gap does not change the priority of the nuclear fuelcycle option from the viewpoint of economics. In addition, the fuelcycle costs of OT (Once-Through) and Pyro-SFR recycling based on the most likely value using a probabilistic cost estimation except for reactor costs were calculated to be 8.75 mills/kW h and 8.30 mills/kW h, respectively. Namely, the Pyro-SFR recycling option was more economical than the direct disposal option. However, if the reactor cost is considered, the economic sense in the generation cost between the two options (direct disposal vs. Pyro-SFR recycling) can be changed because of the high reactor cost of an SFR.

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We analyze open and closed fuelcycle of GFR, SFR, and LFR cores by means of ERANOS based EQL3D procedure. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Equilibrium of open and closed fuelcycles were compared in terms of their performance and safety parameters. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer All three cores act in equilibrium closed cycle as iso-breeder and have similar fuel composition. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer In spite of the same fuel composition the Dopper constants and void reactivities strongly differ between the cores. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer All three systems seem capable, from neutronics point of view, for the fuelcycle closure. - Abstract: The advanced fast reactors of the fourth generation should enable an indirect burning of poorly fissile {sup 238}U through {sup 239}Pu breeding and recycling of the actinides from their own spent fuel. The recycling or actually the fuelcycle closure can significantly reduce the amount of long-lived radioactive waste and the {sup 238}U burning can multiply the sustainability of the uranium fueled reactors. Regular periodic operation with the fuel recycling converges to an equilibrium cycle. To enable its simulation a numerical tool named equilibrium fuelcycle procedure for fast reactors (EQL3D) was developed in the FAST group of LRS at Paul Scherrer Institut. The procedure is based on the ERANOS code and can be used to yield the description of two basic situations: the equilibrium of an open fuelcycle and the equilibrium of a closed fuelcycle. The goals of the present study are (i) to apply EQL3D to the Gas-cooled Fast Reactor (GFR), Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR), and Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (LFR), (ii) to simulate and confirm the GFR, SFR, and LFR neutronics capability for closed fuelcycle, and (iii) to evaluate and compare the equilibrium cycle safety and performance parameters. The EQL3D capability enables to characterize the equilibrium cycle for complex reloading patterns

This study calculates the reduced uranium requirements and the economic incentives for increasing the burnup of current design LWR fuels from the current range of 25 to 35 MWD/Kg to a range of 45 to 55 MWD/Kg. The changes in fuel management strategies which may be required to accommodate these high burnup fuels and longer fuelcycles are discussed. The material behavior problems which may present obstacles to achieving high burnup or to license fuel are identified and discussed. These problems are presented in terms of integral fuel response and the informational needs for commercial and licensing acceptance. Research and development programs are outlined which are aimed at achieving a licensing position and commercial acceptance of high burnup fuels.

A methodology that integrates life cycle assessment (LCA) with thermodynamic analysis is developed and applied to evaluate the environmental impacts of producing biofuels from waste biomass, including biodiesel from waste cooking oil, ethanol from corn stover, and compressed natural gas from municipal solid wastes. Solid oxide fuel cell-based auxiliary power units using bio-fuel as the hydrogen precursor enable generation of auxiliary electricity for idling heavy-duty trucks. Thermodynamic analysis is applied to evaluate the fuel conversion efficiency and determine the amount of fuel feedstock needed to generate a unit of electrical power. These inputs feed into an LCA that compares energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of different fuel pathways. Results show that compressed natural gas from municipal solid wastes is an optimal bio-fuel option for SOFC-APU applications in New York State. However, this methodology can be regionalized within the U.S. or internationally to account for different fuel feedstock options.

Multiple recycle of long-lived actinides has the potential to greatly reduce the required storage time for spent nuclear fuel or high level nuclear waste. This is generally thought to require fast reactors as most transuranic (TRU) isotopes have low fission probabilities in thermal reactors. Reduced-moderation LWRs are a potential alternative to fast reactors with reduced time to deployment as they are based on commercially mature LWR technology. Thorium (Th) fuel is neutronically advantageous for TRU multiple recycle in LWRs due to a large improvement in the void coefficient. If Th fuel is used in reduced-moderation LWRs, it appears neutronically feasible to achieve full actinide recycle while burning an external supply of TRU, with related potential improvements in waste management and fuel utilization. In this paper, the fuelcycle of TRU-bearing Th fuel is analysed for reduced-moderation PWRs and BWRs (RMPWRs and RBWRs). RMPWRs have the advantage of relatively rapid implementation and intrinsically low conversion ratios. However, it is challenging to simultaneously satisfy operational and fuelcycle constraints. An RBWR may potentially take longer to implement than an RMPWR due to more extensive changes from current BWR technology. However, the harder neutron spectrum can lead to favourable fuelcycle performance. A two-stage fuelcycle, where the first pass is Th-Pu MOX, is a technically reasonable implementation of either concept. The first stage of the fuelcycle can therefore be implemented at relatively low cost as a Pu disposal option, with a further policy option of full recycle in the medium term. (authors)

The focus of this study is on a 'top-level' examination of the sustainability of nuclear energy in the context of the overall nuclear fuelcycle (NFC). This evaluation is conducted according to a set of established sustainability criteria that encompasses key economic (energy generation costs), environmental (resource utilization, long-term waste accumulations), and societal (nuclear-weapons proliferation risk) concerns associated with present and future NFC approaches. In this study, key NFCs are assessed according to a simplified and limited set of criteria that attempts to quantify NFC concerns related to cost, resource, waste, and proliferation. The overarching aim of this study is to examine a representative set of NFC options on a relative basis according to the adopted set of criteria to aid in the assessment and decision-making process. These criteria were then aggregated into a single, composite metric to examine the impacts of specific 'stakeholder' preferences. The study architecture is based on sets of nuclear process components. These sets are assembled around a particular nuclear reactor technology for the generation of electricity. Selections are made from the resulting sets of reactor-centric technologies and grouped to form nine central NFC scenarios. The above-described sustainability metrics are evaluated using a steady-state (equilibrium), highly aggregated model that is applied through mass and energy conservation to evaluate each NFC scenario. Six NFC scenarios examined to varying degrees are adaptations or extensions of scenarios used in a recent OECD study (OECD, 2002) of partitioning and transmutation (P and T) schemes based on accelerator-driven systems (ADS) or fast reactors (FR). Three NFC scenarios are based entirely on present-day or near-term LWR technologies. In addition to these near-term scenarios, more advanced systems considered in the original OECD study on which this model is based were retained using a

The current state of the art in nuclear fuelcycle (NFC) modeling is an eclectic mixture of codes with various levels of applicability, flexibility, and availability. In support of the advanced fuelcycle systems analyses, especially those by the Advanced FuelCycle Initiative (AFCI), Unviery of Cincinnati in collaboration with Idaho State University carried out a detailed review of the existing codes describing various aspects of the nuclear fuelcycle and identified the research and development needs required for a comprehensive model of the global nuclear energy infrastructure and the associated nuclear fuelcycles. Relevant information obtained on the NFC codes was compiled into a relational database that allows easy access to various codes' properties. Additionally, the research analyzed the gaps in the NFC computer codes with respect to their potential integration into programs that perform comprehensive NFC analysis.

Advanced fuelcycle will be realized with the mid and long term R and D during the long-term transition period from LWR cycle to advanced reactor fuelcycle. Most of JAEA facilities have been utilized to establish the current LWR and FBR (Fast Breeder Reactor) fuelcycle by implementing evolutionary R and D. An assessment of today's state experimental facilities concerning the following research issues: reprocessing, Mox fuel fabrication, irradiation and post-irradiation examination, waste management and nuclear data measurement, is made. The revolutionary R and D requests new issues to be studied: the TRU multi-recycling, minor actinide recycling, the assessment of proliferation resistance and the assessment of cost reduction. To implement the revolutionary R and D for advanced fuelcycle, however, these facilities should be refurbished to install new machines and process equipment to provide more flexible testing parameters.

Solar-driven non-stoichiometric thermochemical redox cycling of ceria for the conversion of solar energy into fuels shows promise in achieving high solar-to-fuel efficiency. This efficiency is significantly affected by the operating conditions, e.g. redox temperatures, reduction and oxidation pressures, solar irradiation concentration, or heat recovery effectiveness. We present a thermodynamic analysis of five redox cycle designs to investigate the effects of working conditions on the fuel pr...

The US Department of Energy Office of FuelCycle Technologies performed an evaluation and screening (E&S) study of nuclear fuelcycle options to help prioritize future research and development decisions. Previous work for this E&S study focused on establishing equilibrium conditions for analysis examples of 40 nuclear fuelcycle evaluation groups (EGs) and evaluating their performance according to a set of 22 standardized metrics. Following the E&S study, additional studies are being conducted to assess transitioning from the current US fuelcycle to future fuelcycle options identified by the E&S study as being most promising. These studies help inform decisions on how to effectively achieve full transition, estimate the length of time needed to undergo transition from the current fuelcycle, and evaluate performance of nuclear systems and facilities in place during the transition. These studies also help identify any barriers to achieve transition. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) FuelCycle Options Campaign team used ORION to analyze the transition pathway from the existing US nuclear fuel cycle—the once-through use of low-enriched-uranium (LEU) fuel in thermal-spectrum light water reactors (LWRs) —to a new fuelcycle with continuous recycling of plutonium and uranium in sodium fast reactors (SFRs). This paper discusses the analysis of the transition from an LWR to an SFR fleet using ORION, highlights the role of lifetime extensions of existing LWRs to aid transition, and discusses how a slight delay in SFR deployment can actually reduce the time to achieve an equilibrium fuelcycle.

One of the important properties of uranium is that it can be used to “breed” higher actinides, particularly plutonium. During the past sixty years, more than 1,800 metric tonnes of Pu, and substantial quantities of the “minor” actinides, such as Np, Am and Cm, have been generated in nuclear reactors - a permanent record of nuclear power. Some of these transuranium elements can be a source of energy in fission reactions (e.g., 239Pu), a source of fissile material for nuclear weapons (e.g., 239Pu and 237Np), and of environmental concern because of their long-half lives and radiotoxicity (e.g., 239Pu and 237Np). In fact, the new strategies of the Advance FuelCycle Initiative (AFCI) are, in part, motivated by an effort to mitigate some of the challenges of the disposal of these long-lived actinides. There are two basic strategies for the disposition of these heavy elements: 1.) to “burn” or transmute the actinides using nuclear reactors or accelerators; 2.) to “sequester” the actinides in chemically durable, radiation-resistant materials that are suitable for geologic disposal. There has been substantial interest in the use of actinide-bearing minerals, such as zircon or isometric pyrochlore, A2B2O7 (A= rare earths; B = Ti, Zr, Sn, Hf), for the immobilization of actinides, particularly plutonium, both as inert matrix fuels and nuclear waste forms. Systematic studies of rare-earth pyrochlores have led to the discovery that certain compositions (B = Zr, Hf) are stable to very high doses of alpha-decay event damage1. The radiation stability of these compositions is closely related to the structural distortions that can be accommodated for specific pyrochlore compositions and the electronic structure of the B-site cation. Recent developments in the understanding of the properties of heavy element solids have opened up new possibilities for the design of advanced nuclear fuels and waste forms.

This report examines how the HTGR technology family can provide options for the once through, modified open cycle (MOC), or full recycle fuelcycle strategies. The HTGR can serve all the fuelcycle missions that an LWR can; both are thermal reactors. Additional analyses are warranted to determine if HTGR “full recycle” service could provide improved consumption of transuranic (TRU) material than LWRs (as expected), to analyze the unique proliferation resistance issues associated with the “pebble bed” approach, and to further test and analyze methods to separate TRISO-coated fuel particles from graphite and/or to separate used HTGR fuel meat from its TRISO coating. The feasibility of these two separation issues is not in doubt, but further R&D could clarify and reduce the cost and enable options not adequately explored at present. The analyses here and the now-demonstrated higher fuel burnup tests (after the illustrative designs studied here) should enable future MOC and full recycle HTGR concepts to more rapidly consume TRU, thereby offering waste management advantages. Interest in “limited separation” or “minimum fuel treatment” separation approaches motivates study of impurity-tolerant fuel fabrication. Several issues are outside the scope of this report, including the following: thorium fuelcycles, gas-cooled fast reactors, the reliability of TRISO-coated particles (billions in a reactor), and how soon any new reactor or fuel type could be licensed and then deployed and therefore impact fuelcycle performance measures.

The classification of water-cooled nuclear reactors offers a number of fuelcycles that present inherently low risk of weapons proliferation while making power available to the international community. Eight fuelcycles in light water reactor (LWR), heavy water reactor (HWR), and the spectral shift controlled reactor (SSCR) systems have been proposed to promote these objectives in the International FuelCycle Evaluation (INFCE) program. Each was examined in an effort to provide technical and economic data to INFCE on fuel fabrication, refabrication, and reprocessing for an initial comparison of alternate cycles. The fuelcycles include three once-through cycles that require only fresh fuel fabrication, shipping, and spent fuel storage; four cycles that utilize denatured uranium--thorium and require all recycle operations; and one cycle that considers the LWR--HWR tandem operation requiring refabrication but no reprocessing.

The DOE is currently directing extensive research into developing fuelcycle technologies that will enable the safe, secure, economic, and sustainable expansion of nuclear energy. The task is formidable considering the numerous fuelcycle options, the large dynamic systems that each represent, and the necessity to accurately predict their behavior. The path to successfully develop and implement an advanced fuelcycle is highly dependent on the modeling capabilities and simulation tools available for performing useful relevant analysis to assist stakeholders in decision making. Therefore a high-fidelity fuelcycle simulation tool that performs system analysis, including uncertainty quantification and optimization was developed. The resulting simulator also includes the capability to calculate environmental impact measures for individual components and the system. An integrated system method and analysis approach that provides consistent and comprehensive evaluations of advanced fuelcycles was developed. A general approach was utilized allowing for the system to be modified in order to provide analysis for other systems with similar attributes. By utilizing this approach, the framework for simulating many different fuelcycle options is provided. Two example fuelcycle configurations were developed to take advantage of used fuel recycling and transmutation capabilities in waste management scenarios leading to minimized waste inventories.

The growing demand for nuclear power will encourage many countries to undertake initiatives to ensure a self-reliant fuel source supply. Uranium is currently the only fuel utilized in nuclear reactors. There are increasing concerns that primary uranium sources will not be enough to meet future needs. AECL has developed a fuelcycle vision that incorporates other sources of advanced fuels to be adaptable to its CANDU technology.

A gasification plant is integrated on the top of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cycle, while a steam turbine (ST) cycle is used as a bottoming cycle for the SOFC plant. The gasification plant was fueled by woodchips to produce biogas and the SOFC stacks were fired with biogas. The produced gas...... was rather clean for feeding to the SOFC stacks after a simple cleaning step. Because all the fuel cannot be burned in the SOFC stacks, a burner was used to combust the remaining fuel. The off-gases from the burner were then used to produce steam for the bottoming steam cycle in a heat recovery steam...... generator (HRSG). The steam cycle was modeled with a simple single pressure level. In addition, a hybrid recuperator was used to recover more energy from the HRSG and send it back to the SOFC cycle. Thus two different configurations were investigated to study the plants characteristic. Such system...

New analytical techniques allowing to perform speciation in the framework of the nuclear fuelcycle are more and more needed. They have to be selective (since matrix encountered are very complex), sensitive (in order to work at representative concentration and below solubility limit), as well as non intrusive (in order to keep the image of the real solution). Among them, laser-based analytical techniques present these advantages together with the possibility to perform remote measurements via fiber optics. Hence, Time-Resolved Laser-Induced Fluorescence (TRLIF) has been used for actinides/lanthanides interaction and speciation studies in inorganic and organic matrices from the reprocessing to waste storage. Moreover, new ion detection methods such as Electro-Spray - Mass Spectrometry (ES-MS) seems promising for speciation studies. Hence, it is the first time that it is possible to directly couple a liquid at atmospheric pressure to a mass detection working at reduced pressure with a soft mode of ionisation that should allow to give informations on chemical species present. Principle, advantages and limitations as well as results obtained with the use of TRLIF and ES-MS on different systems of interest including actinides, lanthanides, fission products in interaction with simple organic molecules to very complex structure will be presented and discussed. (authors)

This document was prepared to meet FCR&D level 3 milestone M3FT-14IN0304022, “Perform Thermodynamics Measurements on FuelCycle Case Study Systems.” This work was carried out under the auspices of the Thermodynamics and Kinetics FCR&D work package. This document reports preliminary work in support of determining the thermodynamic parameters for the ALSEP process. The ALSEP process is a mixed extractant system comprised of a cation exchanger 2-ethylhexyl-phosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl ester (HEH[EHP]) and a neutral solvating extractant N,N,N’,N’-tetraoctyldiglycolamide (TODGA). The extractant combination produces complex organic phase chemistry that is challenging for traditional measurement techniques. To neutralize the complexity, temperature dependent solvent extraction experiments were conducted with neat TODGA and scaled down concentrations of the ALSEP formulation to determine the enthalpies of extraction for the two conditions. A full set of thermodynamic data for Eu, Am, and Cm extraction by TODGA from 3.0 M HNO3 is reported. These data are compared to previous extraction results from a 1.0 M HNO3 aqueous medium, and a short discussion of the mixed HEH[EHP]/TODGA system results is offered.

Pyro-processing has been attracting increasing attention as a promising candidate as an advanced nuclear fuelcycle technology. It provides economic advantage as well as reduction in proliferation risk and burden of long live radioactive waste, especially when it is combined with advanced fuels such as metallic or nitride fuel which gives excellent burning efficiency of minor actinides (MA). CRIEPI has been developing pyro-processing technology since late eighties with both domestic and international collaborations. In the early stage, electrochemical and thermodynamic properties in LiCl-KCl eutectic melt, and fundamental feasibility of core technology like electrorefining were chiefly investigated. Currently, stress in the process chemistry development is also placed on supporting technologies, such as treatment of anode residue and high temperature distillation for cathode product from electrorefining, and so on. Waste treatment process development, such as studies on adsorption behavior of various FP elements into zeolite and conditions for the fabrication of glass-bonded sodalite waste form, are steadily improved as well. In parallel, dedicated pyro-processing equipment such as zeolite column for treatment of spent electro-refiner salt is currently in progress. Recently, an integrated engineering-scale fuelcycle tests were performed funded by Japanese government (MEXT) as an important step before proceeding to large scale hot demonstration of pyro-processing. Oxide fuels can be readily introduced into the pyro-processing by reducing them to metals by adoption of electrochemical reduction technique. Making use of this advantage, the pyro-processing is currently under preliminary evaluation for its applicability to the treatment of the corium, mainly consisting of (U,Zr)O{sub 2}, formed in different composition during the accident of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. (authors)

The report on interim storage of spent nuclear fuel discusses the technical, regulatory, and economic aspects of spent-fuel storage at nuclear reactors. The report is intended to provide legislators state officials and citizens in the Midwest with information on spent-fuel inventories, current and projected additional storage requirements, licensing, storage technologies, and actions taken by various utilities in the Midwest to augment their capacity to store spent nuclear fuel on site.

The Integral Fast Reactor is an innovative liquid metal reactor concept that is being developed by Argonne National Laboratory. It takes advantage of the properties of metallic fuel and liquid metal cooling to offer significant improvements in reactor safety, operation, fuelcycle economics, environmental protection, and safeguards. The plans for demonstrating the IFR fuelcycle, including its waste processing options, by processing irradiated fuel from the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II fuel in its associated FuelCycle Facility have been developed for the first refining series. This series has been designed to provide the data needed for the further development of the IFR program. An important piece of the data needed is the recovery of TRU material during the reprocessing and waste operations.

The Integral Fast Reactor is an innovative liquid metal reactor concept that is being developed by Argonne National Laboratory. It takes advantage of the properties of metallic fuel and liquid metal cooling to offer significant improvements in reactor safety, operation, fuelcycle economics, environmental protection, and safeguards. The plans for demonstrating the IFR fuelcycle, including its waste processing options, by processing irradiated fuel from the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II fuel in its associated FuelCycle Facility have been developed for the first refining series. This series has been designed to provide the data needed for the further development of the IFR program. An important piece of the data needed is the recovery of TRU material during the reprocessing and waste operations.

The PRORYV (i.e. «Breakthrough» in Russian) project is currently under development. Within the framework of this project, fast reactors BN-1200 and BREST-OD-300 should be built to, inter alia, demonstrate possibility of the closed nuclear fuelcycle technologies with plutonium as a main source of power. Russia has a large inventory of plutonium which was accumulated in the result of reprocessing of spent fuel of thermal power reactors and conversion of nuclear weapons. This kind of plutonium will be used for development of initial fuel assemblies for fast reactors. To solve the closed nuclear fuel modeling tasks REPRORYV code was developed. It simulates the mass flow for nuclides in the closed fuelcycle. This paper presents the results of modeling of a closed nuclear fuelcycle, nuclide flows considering the influence of the uncertainty on the outcome of neutron-physical characteristics of the reactor.

The safety and environmental impacts of new technology and fuelcycle approaches being considered in current U.S. nuclear research programs are contrasted to conventional technology options in this paper. Two advanced reactor technologies, the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) and the very high temperature gas-cooled reactor (VHTR), are being developed. In general, the new reactor technologies exploit inherent features for enhanced safety performance. A key distinction of advanced fuelcycles is spent fuel recycle facilities and new waste forms. In this paper, the performance of existing fuelcycle facilities and applicable regulatory limits are reviewed. Technology options to improve recycle efficiency, restrict emissions, and/or improve safety are identified. For a closed fuelcycle, potential benefits in waste management are significant, and key waste form technology alternatives are described.

A fuelcycle that employs /sup 233/U denatured with /sup 238/U and mixed with thorium fertile material is examined with respect to its proliferation-resistance characteristics and its technical and economic feasibility. The rationale for considering the denatured /sup 233/U fuelcycle is presented, and the impact of the denatured fuel on the performance of Light-Water Reactors, Spectral-Shift-Controlled Reactors, Gas-Cooled Reactors, Heavy-Water Reactors, and Fast Breeder Reactors is discussed. The scope of the R, D and D programs to commercialize these reactors and their associated fuelcycles is also summarized and the resource requirements and economics of denatured /sup 233/U cycles are compared to those of the conventional Pu/U cycle. In addition, several nuclear power systems that employ denatured /sup 233/U fuel and are based on the energy center concept are evaluated. Under this concept, dispersed power reactors fueled with denatured or low-enriched uranium fuel are supported by secure energy centers in which sensitive activities of the nuclear cycle are performed. These activities include /sup 233/U production by Pu-fueled transmuters (thermal or fast reactors) and reprocessing. A summary chapter presents the most significant conclusions from the study and recommends areas for future work.

Full Text Available The main objective of this paper is to examine the use of thorium-based fuelcycle for the transportable reactors or transportable nuclear power plants (TNPP VBER-150 concept, in particular the neutronic behavior. The thorium-based fuelcycles included Th232+Pu239, Th232+U233, and Th232+U and the standard design fuel UOX. Parameters related to the neutronic behavior such as burnup, nuclear fuel breeding, MA stockpile, and Pu isotopes production (among others were used to compare the fuelcycles. The Pu transmutation rate and accumulation of Pu with MA in the spent fuel were compared mutually and with an UOX open cycle. The Th232+U233 fuelcycle proved to be the best cycle for minimizing the production of Pu and MA. The neutronic calculations have been performed with the well-known MCNPX computational code, which was verified for this type of fuel performing calculation of the IAEA benchmark announced by IAEA-TECDOC-1349.

As input to a winter use plan, activity, fuel use, and tailpipe exhaust emissions of over snow vehicles (OSV), including five snow coaches and one snowmobile, were measured on a designated route in Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Engine load was quantified in terms of vehicle specific power (VSP), which is a function of speed, acceleration, and road grade. Compared to highway vehicles, VSP for OSVs is more sensitive to rolling resistance and less sensitive to aerodynamic drag. Fuel use rates increased linearly (R2>0.96) with VSP. For gasoline-fueled OSVs, fuel-based emission rates of carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) typically increased with increasing fuel use rate, with some cases of very high CO emissions. For the diesel OSVs, which had selective catalytic reduction and diesel particulate filters, fuel-based NOx and particulate matter (PM) emission rates were not sensitive to fuel flow rate, and the emission controls were effective. Inter vehicle variability in cycle average fuel use and emissions rates for CO and NOx was substantial. However, there was relatively little inter-cycle variation in cycle average fuel use and emission rates when comparing driving cycles. Recommendations are made regarding how real-world OSV activity, fuel use, and emissions data can be improved.

The nuclear fuelcycle Evaluation and Screening (E&S) study that was completed in October 2014 [1] enabled the identification of four fuelcycle groups that are considered most promising based on a set of nine evaluation criteria: (a) six benefit criteria of Nuclear Waste Management, Proliferation Risk, Nuclear Material Security Risk, Safety, Environmental Impact, Resource Utilization, and (b) three challenge criteria of Development and Deployment Risk, Institutional Issues, Financial Risk and Economics. The E&S study was conducted at a level of analysis that is "technology- neutral," that is, without consideration of specific technologies, but using the fundamental physics characteristics of each part of the fuelcycle. The study focused on the fuelcycle performance benefits at the fuelcycle equilibrium state, with only limited consideration of transition and deployment impacts. Common characteristics of the four most promising fuelcycle options include continuous recycle of all U/Pu or U/TRU, the use of fast-spectrum reactors, and no use of uranium enrichment once fuelcycle equilibrium has been established. The high-level wastes are mainly from processing of irradiated fuel, and there would be no disposal of any spent fuel. Building on the findings of the E&S study, additional studies have been conducted in the last two years following the information exchange meeting, the 13th IEMPT, which was held in Seoul, the Republic of Korea in 2014. Insights are presented from the recent studies on the benefits and challenges of recycling minor actinides, and transition considerations to some of the most promising fuelcycle options.

There are two compelling reasons for understanding source term and near-field processes in a radioactive waste geologic repository. First, almost all of the radioactivity is initially in the waste form, mainly in the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) or nuclear waste glass. Second, over long periods, after the engineered barriers are degraded, the waste form is a primary control on the release of radioactivity. Thus, it is essential to know the physical and chemical state of the waste form after hundreds of thousands of years. The United States Department of Energy's Yucca Mountain Repository Program has initiated a long-term program to develop a basic understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of radionuclide release and a quantification of the release as repository conditions evolve over time. Specifically, the research program addresses four critical areas: (a) SNF dissolution mechanisms and rates; (b) formation and properties of U6+-secondary phases; (c) waste form-waste package interactions in the near-field; and (d) integration of in-package chemical and physical processes. The ultimate goal is to integrate the scientific results into a larger scale model of source term and near-field processes. This integrated model will be used to provide a basis for understanding the behaviour of the source term over long time periods (greater than 105 years). Such a fundamental and integrated experimental and modelling approach to source term processes can also be readily applied to development of advanced waste forms as part of a closed nuclear fuelcycle. Specifically, a fundamental understanding of candidate waste form materials stability in high temperature/high radiation environments and near-field geochemical/hydrologic processes could enable development of advanced waste forms 'tailored' to specific geologic settings.

Some ask: What is the most important event in the Nuclear FuelCycle in recent years? One obvious answer is: the dramatic increase in the price of uranium in the international market. The 'spot' or short term delivery price of uranium, increased from $10.90 US dol/lb U{sub 3}O{sub 8} in June 2003 to $14.40 US dol/lb U{sub 3}O{sub 8} in December 2003, a 34% increase in just six months. Then it jumped again to $20.50 US dol/lb U{sub 3}O{sub 8} by December 2004, an increase of 42% that year. Now, by June of 2005, the spot price has climbed another 41% in six months to $29.00 dol/lb U{sub 3}O{sub 8}. Altogether this is a 270% jump in the spot price in just two years. In the same period, the long-term contract price increased from $ 11.75 US dol/lb U{sub 3}O{sub 8} to $30.00 US dol/lb U{sub 3}O{sub 8} - an increase of 255%. These 'adjustments' are a shock to fuel buyers similar to that adjustment of tectonic plates that caused the terrible 'tsunami' in the coast of East Asia last December. This 'adjustment' occurred in a market that most buyers had thought had developed stability - but this was a stability which we now know was mainly due to the supply of large excess inventories of uranium from several countries, including military stocks in the CIS and USA. But what the future holds may be even more dramatic. This paper examines some of the critical elements that will shape the future U{sub 3}O{sub 8} supply/demand relationship, and prices, in the coming decade. (Author)

Based on the results of ORIGEN2 and a newly developed code called ORMANG, graphical and summary tabular characteristics of spent fuel, high-level waste, and fuel assembly structural material (cladding) waste are presented for a generic pressurized-water reactor (PWR), a liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR), and the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF). The characteristics include radioactivity, thermal power, and toxicity (water dilution volume). Given are graphs and summary tables containing characteristic totals and the principal nuclide contributors as well as graphs comparing the three reactors for a single material and the three materials for a single reactor.

An analysis of the current (February 2009) status and future potential of India's nuclear fuelcycle is presented in this book. Such a fuelcycle assessment is important, but relatively opaque because India regards various aspects of its nuclear fuelcycle as strategically sensitive. Any study therefore necessarily depends upon reverse calculations based on the information that is available, expert assessments, engineering judgment and anecdotal information. In this work every effort is made to provide transparency to these foundations, so that changes can be made in light of alternative expec

This report presents the performance characteristics of two “two-stage” fast spectrum fuelcycle options proposed to enhance uranium resource utilization and to reduce nuclear waste generation. One is a two-stage fast spectrum fuelcycle option of continuous recycle of plutonium (Pu) in a fast reactor (FR) and subsequent burning of minor actinides (MAs) in an accelerator-driven system (ADS). The first stage is a sodium-cooled FR fuelcycle starting with low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel; at the equilibrium cycle, the FR is operated using the recovered Pu and natural uranium without supporting LEU. Pu and uranium (U) are co-extracted from the discharged fuel and recycled in the first stage, and the recovered MAs are sent to the second stage. The second stage is a sodium-cooled ADS in which MAs are burned in an inert matrix fuel form. The discharged fuel of ADS is reprocessed, and all the recovered heavy metals (HMs) are recycled into the ADS. The other is a two-stage FR/ADS fuelcycle option with MA targets loaded in the FR. The recovered MAs are not directly sent to ADS, but partially incinerated in the FR in order to reduce the amount of MAs to be sent to the ADS. This is a heterogeneous recycling option of transuranic (TRU) elements

Highlights: • Facilities for implementation of safeguards for thorium fuelcycle have been compared. • Two concepts have been compared. • In one concept, the facilities are designed in hub and spoke concept. • In second concept the facilities are designed as self-contained concept. • The comparison is done on a number of factors, which affect safeguardability and proliferation resistance. -- Abstract: Thorium based nuclear fuelcycle has many attractive features, its inherent proliferation resistance being one of them. This is due to the presence of high energy gamma emitting daughter products of U{sup 232} associated with U{sup 233}. This high energy gamma radiation also poses challenges in nuclear material accounting. A typical thorium fuelcycle facility has a number of plants including a fuel fabrication plant for initial and equilibrium core, a reprocessed U{sup 233} fuel fabrication plant, a reprocessing plant, a fuel assembly/disassembly plant and associated waste handling and management plants. A thorium fuelcycle facility can be set up to serve reactors at a site. Alternatively, one can follow a hub and spoke approach with a large thorium fuelcycle facility acting as a hub, catering to the requirements of reactors at several sites as spokes. These two concepts have their respective merits and shortcomings in terms of engineering and economics. The present paper is aimed at comparing the merits and challenges for implementation of safeguards on the two concepts viz. a large fuelcycle hub catering to reactors at several sites versus a small fuelcycle facility dedicated to reactors at a single site.

Highlights: • Comparison of intermediate and fast spectrum thorium-fueled reactors. • Variety of reactor technology options enables self-sustaining thorium fuelcycles. • Fuelcycle analyses indicate similar performance for fast and intermediate systems. • Reproduction factor plays a significant role in breeding and burn-up performance. - Abstract: This paper presents analyses of possible reactor representations of a nuclear fuelcycle with continuous recycling of thorium and produced uranium (mostly U-233) with thorium-only feed. The analysis was performed in the context of a U.S. Department of Energy effort to develop a compendium of informative nuclear fuelcycle performance data. The objective of this paper is to determine whether intermediate spectrum systems, having a majority of fission events occurring with incident neutron energies between 1 eV and 10{sup 5} eV, perform as well as fast spectrum systems in this fuelcycle. The intermediate spectrum options analyzed include tight lattice heavy or light water-cooled reactors, continuously refueled molten salt reactors, and a sodium-cooled reactor with hydride fuel. All options were modeled in reactor physics codes to calculate their lattice physics, spectrum characteristics, and fuel compositions over time. Based on these results, detailed metrics were calculated to compare the fuelcycle performance. These metrics include waste management and resource utilization, and are binned to accommodate uncertainties. The performance of the intermediate systems for this self-sustaining thorium fuelcycle was similar to a representative fast spectrum system. However, the number of fission neutrons emitted per neutron absorbed limits performance in intermediate spectrum systems.

The cross section libraries and calculation methods of the participants were inter-compared through the first stage benchmark calculation. The multiplication factor of unit cell benchmark are in good agreement, but there is significant discrepancies of 2.3 to 3.5 %k at BOC and at EOC between the calculated infinite multiplication factors of each participants for the assembly benchmark. Our results with HELIOS show a reasonable agreement with the others except the MTC value at EOC. To verify the potential of the thorium-based fuel to consume the plutonium and to reduce the radioactivity from the spent fuel, the conceptual core with ThO{sub 2}-PuO{sub 2} or MOX fuel were constructed. The composition and quantity of plutonium isotopes and the radioactivity level of spent fuel for conceptual cores were analyzed, and the neutronic characteristics of conceptual cores were also calculated. The nuclear characteristics for ThO{sub 2}-PuO{sub 2} thorium fueled core was similar to MOX fueled core, mainly due to the same seed fuel material, plutonium. For the capability of plutonium consumption, ThO{sub 2}-PuO{sub 2} thorium fuel can consume plutonium 2.1-2.4 times MOX fuel. The fraction of fissile plutonium in the spent ThO{sub 2}-PuO{sub 2} thorium fuel is more favorable in view of plutonium consumption and non-proliferation than MOX fuel. The radioactivity of spent ThO{sub 2}-PuO{sub 2} thorium and MOX fuel batches were calculated. Since plutonium isotopes are dominant for the long-term radioactivity, ThO{sub 2}-PuO{sub 2} thorium has almost the same level of radioactivity as in MOX fuel for a long-term perspective. (author). 22 figs., 11 tabs.

...) For alcohol dual fuel automobiles and natural gas dual fuel automobiles, the procedures of paragraphs... from the tests performed using gasoline or diesel test fuel. (ii) If 5-cycle testing was performed on... values for the model type. (5) For alcohol dual fuel automobiles and natural gas dual fuel automobiles...

This report contains a summary of irradiation testing of FuelCycle Research and Development (FCRD) Accident Tolerant Fuels Series 1 (ATF 1) experiments performed at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in FY 2016. ATF 1 irradiation testing work performed in FY 2016 included design, analysis, and fabrication of ATF-1B drop in capsule ATF 1 series experiments and irradiation testing of ATF-1 capsules in the ATR.

This paper will investigate the vast array of economic factors to estimate the true cost of the nuclear power. There are many studies addressing the external costs of energy production. However, it is only since the 1990s that the external costs of nuclear powered electricity production has been studied in detail. Each investigation has identified their own set of external costs and developed formulas and models using a variety of statistical techniques. The objective of this research is to broaden the scope of the parameters currently consider by adding new areas and expanding on the types of situations considered. Previously the approach to evaluating the external cost of nuclear power did not include various fuelcycle options and influencing parameters. Cost has always been a very important factor in decision-making, in particular for policy choices evaluating the alternative energy sources and electricity generation technologies. Assessment of external costs in support of decision-making should reflect timely consideration of important country specific policy objective. PWR-MOX and FR-Pyro are the best fuelcycle in parameter of environment impacts, but OT or OT-ER is proper than FR-Pyro in human beings. Using the OT fuelcycle is better than FR-Pyro to reduce the conflict cost. When energy supply is deficient, FR-Pyro fuelcycle stands longer than other fuelcycles. Proliferation resistance is shown as 'high' in all fuelcycles, so there are no difference between fuelcycles. When the severe accident occurs, FR-Pyro cycle is economical than other OT based fuelcycles.

In this report two research topics of interest to Concepts and Approaches are investigated. The motivation of joining them into one project is that both require (1) the simulation of fuel irradiation in a reactor and (2) the transport of gamma and neutron irradiation from the fuel to safeguards detectors. In the next two subsections the merits of each of the two safeguards applications are further introduced. Given the cumulative impact of the enhancements listed above, it is not surprising that both fuel assembly design and fuel assembly irradiation optimization have improved over the past 50+ years. The purpose of the research summarized in this sub-­section is to investigate what, if any, consequence this evolution in reactor operation might have for nuclear safeguards. It is anticipated that the burnup and isotopics of the spent fuel should exhibit less variation over the decades as reactor operators irradiate each assembly to the optimum amount. In contrast, older spent fuel is anticipated to vary more in burnup and resulting isotopics for a given initial enrichment. Continuing with this thesis, modern fuel should be more uniform in composition, and thus, measured safeguards results should be easier to interpret than results from older spent fuel. With spent fuel ponds filling up, interim and long-­term storage of spent fuel will need to be addressed. Additionally after long periods of storage, spent fuel is no longer self-­protecting and as such the IAEA will categorize it as more attractive; in approximately 20 years many of the assemblies from early commercial cores will no longer be considered self-­protecting. This study will assess how more recent changes in the reactor operation could impact the interpretation of safeguards measurements.

A study was conducted to assess the potential for application of a Closed Cycle MHD disk generator (CCMHD) in advanced fossil fuel power generation systems. Cycle analyses were conducted for a variety of candidate power cycles, including simple cycle CCMHD (MHD); a cycle combining CCMHD and gas turbines (MHD/GT); and a triple combined cycle including CCMHD, gas turbines, and steam turbines (MHD/GT/ST). The above cycles were previously considered in cycle studies reported by Japanese researchers. Also considered was a CCMHD cycle incorporating thermochemical heat recovery through reforming of the fuel stream (MHD/REF), which is the first consideration of this approach. A gas turbine/steam turbine combined cycle (GT/ST) was also analyzed for baseline comparison. The only fuel considered in the study was CH4. Component heat and pressure losses were neglected, and the potential for NOx emission due to high combustion temperatures was not considered. Likewise, engineering limitations for cycle components, particularly the high temperature argon heater, were not considered. This approach was adopted to simplify the analysis for preliminary screening of candidate cycles. Cycle calculations were performed using in-house code. Ideal gas thermodynamic properties were calculated using the NASA SP- 273 data base, and thermodynamic properties for steam were calculated using the computerized ASME Steam Tables. High temperature equilibrium compositions for combustion gas were calculated using tabulated values of the equilibrium constants for the important reactions.

, including the inventory of the Disposal Facility at El Cabril, which, due to the mission entrusted to it, is responsible for providing information on the current stock of waste and the forecasts of waste to be received in the future, and the waste currently stored in foreign installations which, in time, will be returned to Spain as it had been waste treated in Spain and then Exported to these installations abroad. Chapter 5 of this document summarises the data given in the previous chapters, providing an inventory of each of the types of waste which require a differentiated management process. This chapter also refers to the situation on 31 December 2004, as well as the inventory for each type of waste which will have to be managed in Spain in the future. Finally, it should be mentioned that in the 2004 inventory, it was decided not to include contaminated material stored temporarily in the nuclear power plants where a management process had not yet been decided on with regard to classification as radioactive waste. Moreover, contaminated liquid waste or suspension of ion exchange resins which are stored in nuclear power plants, awaiting conditioning as LILW package pieces, were not included in this study. And lastly it should be stressed that fuel elements which are irradiating in the reactors of the nuclear power plants have also been excluded from this study. (Author)

The research described in this report was performed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to describe and compare the merits of two advanced alternative nuclear fuelcycles -- named by this study as the “UREX+3c fuel cycle” and the “Alternative Fuel Cycle” (AFC). Both fuelcycles were assumed to support 100 1,000 MWe light water reactor (LWR) nuclear power plants operating over the period 2020 through 2100, and the fast reactors (FRs) necessary to burn the plutonium and minor actinides generated by the LWRs. Reprocessing in both fuelcycles is assumed to be based on the UREX+3c process reported in earlier work by the DOE. Conceptually, the UREX+3c process provides nearly complete separation of the various components of spent nuclear fuel in order to enable recycle of reusable nuclear materials, and the storage, conversion, transmutation and/or disposal of other recovered components. Output of the process contains substantially all of the plutonium, which is recovered as a 5:1 uranium/plutonium mixture, in order to discourage plutonium diversion. Mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for recycle in LWRs is made using this 5:1 U/Pu mixture plus appropriate makeup uranium. A second process output contains all of the recovered uranium except the uranium in the 5:1 U/Pu mixture. The several other process outputs are various waste streams, including a stream of minor actinides that are stored until they are consumed in future FRs. For this study, the UREX+3c fuelcycle is assumed to recycle only the 5:1 U/Pu mixture to be used in LWR MOX fuel and to use depleted uranium (tails) for the makeup uranium. This fuelcycle is assumed not to use the recovered uranium output stream but to discard it instead. On the other hand, the AFC is assumed to recycle both the 5:1 U/Pu mixture and all of the recovered uranium. In this case, the recovered uranium is reenriched with the level of enrichment being determined by the amount of recovered plutonium and the combined amount

The preparation of the new revision of the Decommissioning and Spent Fuel (SF) and Low and Intermediate level Waste (LILW) Disposal Program for the NPP Krsko (Program) started in September 2008 after the acceptance of the Term of Reference for the work by Intergovernmental Committee responsible for implementation of the Agreement between the governments of Slovenia and Croatia on the status and other legal issues related to investment, exploitation, and decommissioning of the Nuclear power plant Krsko. The responsible organizations, APO and ARAO together with NEK prepared all new technical and financial data and relevant inputs for the new revision in which several scenarios based on the accepted boundary conditions were investigated. The strategy of immediate dismantling was analyzed for planned and extended NPP life time together with linked radioactive waste and spent fuel management to calculate yearly annuity to be paid by the owners into the decommissioning funds in Slovenia and Croatia. The new Program incorporated among others new data on the LILW repository including the costs for siting, construction and operation of silos at the location Vrbina in Krsko municipality, the site specific Preliminary Decommissioning Plan for NPP Krsko which included besides dismantling and decontamination approaches also site specific activated and contaminated radioactive waste, and results from the referenced scenario for spent fuel disposal but at very early stage. Important inputs for calculations presented also new amounts of compensations to the local communities for different nuclear facilities which were taken from the supplemented Slovenian regulation and updated fiscal parameters (inflation, interest, discount factors) used in the financial model based on the current development in economical environment. From the obtained data the nominal and discounted costs for the whole nuclear program related to NPP Krsko which is jointly owned by Slovenia and Croatia have

The DOE FuelCycle Technologies (FCT) Program will be conducting a screening of fuelcycle options in FY2013 to help focus fuelcycle R&D activities. As part of this screening, performance criteria and go/no-go criteria are being identified. To help ensure that these criteria are consistent with current policy, an effort was initiated to identify the status and basis of potentially relevant regulations, laws, and policies that have been established external to DOE. As such regulations, laws, and policies may be beyond DOE’s control to change, they may constrain the screening criteria and internally-developed policy. This report contains a historical survey and analysis of publically available domestic documents that could pertain to external constraints on advanced nuclear fuelcycles. “External” is defined as public documents outside DOE. This effort did not include survey and analysis of constraints established internal to DOE.

This paper presents a multi-criteria evaluation methodology for nuclear fuelcycle options in terms of energy sustainability. Starting from the general sustainability concept and the public acceptance questionnaire, a set of indicators reflecting specific criteria for the evaluation of nuclear fuelcycle options are defined.Particular attention is devoted to the resource utility efficiency, environmental effect, human health hazard and economic effect, which represent the different concerns of different stakeholders. This methodology also integrated a special mathematic processing approach, namely the Extentics Evaluation Method, which quantifies the human being subjective perception to provide the intuitionistic judgement and comparison for different options. The once-through option and reprocessing option of nuclear fuelcycle are examined by using the proposed methodology. The assessment process and result can give us some guidance in nuclear fuelcycle evaluation under the constraint of limited data.

According to the recommendations submitted by the Public Engagement Commission on Spent Nuclear Fuel Management (PECOS), the government was advised to pick the site for an underground laboratory and interim storage facilities before the end of 2020 followed by the related research for permanent and underground disposal of spent fuel after 10 years. In the middle of the main issues, the factors of environmentally friendly and safe way to handle nuclear waste are inextricable from nuclear power generating nation to ensure the sustainability of nuclear power. For this purposes, the closed nuclear fuelcycle has been developed regarding deep geological disposal, pyroprocessing, and burner type sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) in Korea. Among two methods of an equilibrium model and a dynamic model generally used for screening nuclear fuelcycle system, the dynamic model is more appropriate to envisage country-specific environment with the transition phase in the long term and significant to estimate meaningful impacts based on the timedependent behavior of harmful wastes. This study aims at analyzing the spent nuclear fuel generation based on the long-term nuclear fuelcycle transition scenarios considered at up-to-date country specific conditions and comparing long term advantages of the developed nuclear fuelcycle option between once-through cycle and Pyro-SFR cycle. In this study, a dynamic analysis was carried out to estimate the long-term projection of nuclear electricity generation, installed capacity, spent nuclear fuel arising in different fuelcycle scenarios based on the up-to-date national energy plans.

This document starts with an overview that summarizes nuclear power policies and waste management activities for nations with significant commercial nuclear fuelcycle activities either under way or planned. A more detailed program summary is then included for each country or international agency conducting nuclear fuelcycle and waste management research and development. This first volume includes the overview and the program summaries of those countries listed alphabetically from Argentina to Italy.

Operation safety of reactor MAVR under nominal and emergency situations is based on creation of conditions for the minimum time of fuel operation in the core at the minimum quantity of the fissionable material. The variants of core elements construction, of the reactor control systems, and the possible scheme of fuelcycles of the reactor MAVR are considered.

The object of the Alternative Nuclear FuelCycle Study is to perform comparative assessments of nuclear power systems. There are two important features of this study. First, this evaluation attempts to encompass the complete, integrated fuelcycle from mining of uranium ore to disposal of waste rather than isolated components. Second, it compares several aspects of each cycle - energy use, economics, technological status, proliferation, public safety, and commercial potential - instead of concentrating on one or two assessment areas. This report presents assessment results for three fuelcycles. These are the light-water reactor once-through cycle, the fast breeder reactor on the classical plutonium cycle, and the fast breeder reactor on a symbiotic cycle using plutonium and /sup 233/U as fissile fuels. The report also contains a description of the methodology used in this assessment. Subsequent reports will present results for additional fuelcycles.

Full Text Available This paper compares the greenhouse gas (GHG emissions of natural gas (NG- based fuels to the GHG emissions of electric vehicles (EVs powered with NG-to-electricity in China. A life-cycle model is used to account for full fuelcycle and use-phase emissions, as well as vehicle cycle and battery manufacturing. The reduction of life-cycle GHG emissions of EVs charged by electricity generated from NG, without utilizing carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS technology can be 36%–47% when compared to gasoline vehicles. The large range change in emissions reduction potential is driven by the different generation technologies that could in the future be used to generate electricity in China. When CCS is employed in power plants, the GHG emission reductions increase to about 71%–73% compared to gasoline vehicles. It is found that compressed NG (CNG and liquefied NG (LNG fuels can save about 10% of carbon as compared to gasoline vehicles. However, gas-to-liquid (GTL fuel made through the Fischer-Tropsch method will likely lead to a life-cycle GHG emissions increase, potentially 3%–15% higher than gasoline, but roughly equal to petroleum-based diesel. When CCS is utilized, the GTL fueled vehicles emit roughly equal GHG emissions to petroleum-based diesel fuel high-efficient hybrid electric vehicle from the life-cycle perspective.

This study addresses the quantitative evaluation of the proliferation resistance which is important factor of the alternative nuclear fuelcycle system. In this study, model was developed to quantitatively evaluate the proliferation resistance of the nuclear fuelcycles. The proposed models were then applied to Korean environment as a sample study to provide better references for the determination of future nuclear fuelcycle system in Korea. In order to quantify the proliferation resistance of the nuclear fuelcycle, the proliferation resistance index was defined in imitation of an electrical circuit with an electromotive force and various electrical resistance components. The analysis on the proliferation resistance of nuclear fuelcycles has shown that the resistance index as defined herein can be used as an international measure of the relative risk of the nuclear proliferation if the motivation index is appropriately defined. It has also shown that the proposed model can include political issues as well as technical ones relevant to the proliferation resistance, and consider all facilities and activities in a specific nuclear fuelcycle (from mining to disposal). In addition, sensitivity analyses on the sample study indicate that the direct disposal option in a country with high nuclear propensity may give rise to a high risk of the nuclear proliferation than the reprocessing option in a country with low nuclear propensity.

Full Text Available Nuclear energy presents key challenges to be successful as a sustainable energy source. Currently, the viability of the use thorium-based fuelcycles in an innovative nuclear energy generation system is being investigated in order to solve these key challenges. In this work, the feasibility of three thorium-based fuelcycles (232Th-233U, 232Th-239Pu, and 232Th-U in a hybrid system formed by a Very High Temperature Pebble-Bed Reactor (VHTR and two Pebble-Bed Accelerator Driven Systems (ADSs was evaluated using parameters related to the neutronic behavior such as nuclear fuel breeding, minor actinide stockpile, the energetic contribution of each ﬁssile isotope, and the radiotoxicity of the long lived wastes. These parameters were used to compare the fuelcycles using the well-known MCNPX ver. 2.6e computational code. The results obtained confirm that the 232Th-233U fuelcycle is the best cycle for minimizing the production of plutonium isotopes and minor actinides. Moreover, the inclusion of the second stage in the ADSs demonstrated the possibility of extending the burnup cycle duration and reducing the radiotoxicity of the discharged fuel from the VHTR.

Since 1992, KAERI, AECL, United States Department of States(USDOS) and IAEA have performed the DUPIC fuelcycle development activities as an international cooperative research program, which has now been chosen as a target nuclear system for an INPRO case study. This study will focus on a further improvement and modification of the basic principles, user requirements and acceptance limits, which are defined in the IAEA-TECDOC-1434 for an evaluation of its proliferation-resistance through a proliferation-resistance assessment of the whole fuelcycle of DUPIC based on the INPRO methodology. In order to further develop an evaluation method for a proliferation-resistance based on the INPRO methodology, the basic principles, user requirements and acceptance limits of a proliferation-resistance was reviewed and quantified. Then the evaluation model (material flow, facility scale, reference fuel, etc.) of the DUPIC fuelcycle was developed and a proliferation-resistance assessment of the DUPIC fuelcycle including the PWR fuelcycle was performed by using the revised INPRO methodology in the area of a proliferation resistance. Also, the recommendations for a further improvement of INPRO methodology were suggested through examining the INPRO methodology for a proliferation resistance assessment. Through the proliferation resistance assessment of the whole fuelcycle of DUPIC including the PWR fuelcycle, the proliferation-resistance methodology was updated and re-established. And based on its experience, The research results can be used not only to evaluate and determine the future domestic proliferation-resistant fuelcycles which were derived from the GEN{sub I}V or INPRO programs but also to improve a system design to enhance its proliferation resistance. The present results will be utilized for the development of an INPRO User's Manual which is being developed as an important issue by IAEA. The credibility of the research results were ensured by the IAEA

The Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTR) can be usedto burn plutonium fuel to reduce Pu stockpiles because of its inherent safety characteristics and ability to burn a variety of fuel mixtures. The equilibrium core is calculated and analyzed for Pu enriched fuel. Fuel spheres with 7 g heavy metal including the civilian grade Pu and thorium are loaded into the reactor. An enrichment of 11% is chosen to provide the desired equilibrium core reactivity. The fuel and moderator temperature coefficients are both negative. The maximum fuel element temperature during normal operation and during a loss of coolant accident is less than 1500 ℃. 92% of 239Pu will be burnt during nomal operation. Therefore, a thorium fuelcycle in the modular HTR is an effective method for burning civilian grade plutonium.

This report represents an analog approach to the characterization of the environmental behavior of geotoxic waste materials (toxic material emplaced in the earth's crust) as drawn from literature on the Oklo natural fission reactors and uranium ore deposits relative to radioactive wastes, and hydrothermal metal ore deposits relative to stable toxic wastes. The natural analog data were examined in terms of mobility and immobility of selected radioactive or stable waste elements and are presented in matrix relationship with their prime geochemical variables. A numerical system of ranking those relationships for purposes of hazard-indexing is proposed. Geochemical parameters (especially oxidation/reduction potential) are apparently more potent mobilizers/immobilizers than geological or hydrological conditions in many, if not most, geologic environments for most radioactive waste elements. Heavy metal wastes, by analogy to hydrothermal ore systems and geothermal systems, are less clear in their behavior but similar geochemical patterns do apply. Depth relationships between geochemical variables and waste element behavior show some surprises. It is significantly indicated that for waste isolation, deeper is not necessarily better geochemically. Relatively shallow isolation in host rocks such as shale could offer maximum immobility. This paper provides a geochemical outline for examining analog models as well as a departure point for improved quantification of geological and geochemical indexing of toxic waste hazards.

This report presents the methodologies and results of Argonne`s assessment of additional capital needs and the fuel-cycle energy and emissions impacts of using six different fuels in the vehicles with tripled fuel economy (3X vehicles) that the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles is currently investigating. The six fuels included in this study are reformulated gasoline, low-sulfur diesel, methanol, ethanol, dimethyl ether, and hydrogen. Reformulated gasoline, methanol, and ethanol are assumed to be burned in spark-ignition, direct-injection engines. Diesel and dimethyl ether are assumed to be burned in compression-ignition, direct-injection engines. Hydrogen and methanol are assumed to be used in fuel-cell vehicles. The authors have analyzed fuels infrastructure impacts under a 3X vehicle low market share scenario and a high market share scenario. The assessment shows that if 3X vehicles are mass-introduced, a considerable amount of capital investment will be needed to build new fuel production plants and to establish distribution infrastructure for methanol, ethanol, dimethyl ether, and hydrogen. Capital needs for production facilities will far exceed those for distribution infrastructure. Among the four fuels, hydrogen will bear the largest capital needs. The fuel efficiency gain by 3X vehicles translates directly into reductions in total energy demand, fossil energy demand, and CO{sub 2} emissions. The combination of fuel substitution and fuel efficiency results in substantial petroleum displacement and large reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, sulfur oxide, and particulate matter of size smaller than 10 microns.

The strategy of the development of nuclear power in Russia provides for use of fast power reactors in closed nuclear fuelcycle. The PRORYV (i.e. «Breakthrough» in Russian) project is currently under development. Within the framework of this project, fast reactors BN-1200 and BREST-OD-300 should be built to, inter alia, demonstrate possibility of the closed nuclear fuelcycle technologies with plutonium as a main source of energy. Russia has a large inventory of plutonium which was accumulated in the result of reprocessing of spent fuel of thermal power reactors and conversion of nuclear weapons. This kind of plutonium will be used for development of initial fuel assemblies for fast reactors. The closed nuclear fuelcycle concept of the PRORYV assumes self-supplied mode of operation with fuel regeneration by neutron capture reaction in non-enriched uranium, which is used as a raw material. Operating modes of reactors and its characteristics should be chosen so as to provide the self-sufficient mode by using of fissile isotopes while refueling by depleted uranium and to support this state during the entire period of reactor operation. Thus, the actual issue is modeling fuel handling processes. To solve these problems, the code REPRORYV (Recycle for PRORYV) has been developed. It simulates nuclide streams in non-reactor stages of the closed fuelcycle. At the same time various verified codes can be used to evaluate in-core characteristics of a reactor. By using this approach various options for nuclide streams and assess the impact of different plutonium content in the fuel, fuel processing conditions, losses during fuel processing, as well as the impact of initial uncertainties on neutron-physical characteristics of reactor are considered in this study.

Full Text Available Radioactive wastes are generated during nuclear fuelcycle operation, production and application of radioisotope in medicine, industry, research, and agriculture, and as a byproduct of natural resource exploitation, which includes mining and processing of ores, combustion of fossil fuels, or production of natural gas and oil. To ensure the protection of human health and the environment from the hazard of these wastes, a planned integrated radioactive waste management practice should be applied. This work is directed to review recent published researches that are concerned with testing and application of different treatment options as a part of the integrated radioactive waste management practice. The main aim from this work is to highlight the scientific community interest in important problems that affect different treatment processes. This review is divided into the following sections: advances in conventional treatment of aqueous radioactive wastes, advances in conventional treatment of organic liquid wastes, and emerged technological options.

This volume contains 68 papers presented at the 2nd NUCEF International Symposium NUCEF`98 held on 16-17 November 1998, in Hitachinaka, Japan, following the 1st symposium NUCEF`95 (Proceeding: JAERI-Conf 96-003). The theme of this symposium was `Safety Research and Development of Base Technology on Nuclear FuelCycle`. The papers were presented in oral and poster sessions on following research fields: (1) Criticality Safety, (2) Reprocessing and Partitioning, (3) Radioactive Waste Management. The 68 papers are indexed individually. (J.P.N.)

The hybrid drive bulldozer adopts a dual-motor independent drive system with engine-generator assembly as its power source. The mathematical model of the whole system is constructed on the software platform of MATLAB/Simulink. And then according to the velocity data gained from a real test experiment, a typical duty cycle is build up. Finally the fuel consumption of the bulldozer is calculated under this duty-cycle. Simulation results show that, compared with the traditional mechanical one, the hybrid electric drive system can save fuel up to 16% and therefore indicates great potential for lifting up fuel economy.

Many of the processing steps in the nuclear fuelcycle generate aqueous effluent streams bearing contaminants that can, because of their chemical or radiological properties, pose an environmental hazard. Concentration of such contaminants must be reduced to acceptable levels before the streams can be discharged to the environment. Two classes of contaminants, nitrates and heavy metals, are addressed in this study. Specific techniques aimed at the removal of nitrates and radioactive heavy metals by biological processes are being developed, tested, and demonstrated. Although cost comparisons between biological processes and current treatment methods will be presented, these comparisons may be misleading because biological processes yield environmentally better end results which are difficult to price. The fluidized-bed biological denitrification process is an environmentally acceptable and economically sound method for the disposal of nonreusable sources of nitrate effluents. A very high denitrification rate can be obtained in a FBR as the result of a high concentration of denitrification bacteria in the bioreactor and the stagewise operation resulting from plug flow in the reactor. The overall denitrification rate in an FBR ranges from 20- to 100-fold greater than that observed for an STR bioreactor. It has been shown that the system can be operated using Ca/sup 2 +/, Na/sup +/, or NH/sub 4//sup +/ cations at nitrate concentrations up to 1 g/liter without inhibition. Biological sorption of uranium and other radionuclides (particularly the actinides) from dilute aqueous waste streams shows considerable promise as a means of recovering these valuable resources and reducing the environmental impact, however, further development efforts are required.

Standard problems were created to test the ability of American and Russian computational methods and data regarding the analysis of the storage and handling of Russian pressurized water reactor (VVER) mixed oxide fuel. Criticality safety and radiation shielding problems were analyzed. Analysis of American and Russian multiplication factors for fresh fuel storage for low-enriched uranium (UOX), weapons- (MOX-W) and reactor-grade (MOX-R) MOX differ by less than 2% for all variations of water density. For shielding calculations for fresh fuel, the ORNL results for the neutron source differ from the Russian results by less than 1% for UOX and MOX-R and by approximately 3% for MOX-W. For shielding calculations for fresh fuel assemblies, neutron dose rates at the surface of the assemblies differ from the Russian results by 5% to 9%; the level of agreement for gamma dose varies depending on the type of fuel, with UOX differing by the largest amount. The use of different gamma group structures and instantaneous versus asymptotic decay assumptions also complicate the comparison. For the calculation of dose rates from spent fuel in a shipping cask, the neutron source for UOX after 3-year cooling is within 1% and for MOX-W within 5% of one of the Russian results while the MOX-R difference is the largest at over 10%. These studies are a portion of the documentation required by the Russian nuclear regulatory authority, GAN, in order to certify Russian programs and data as being acceptably accurate for the analysis of mixed oxide fuels.

Full Text Available In an attempt to allow nuclear power to reach its full economic potential, General Atomics is developing the Energy Multiplier Module (EM2, which is a compact gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR. The EM2 augments its fissile fuel load with fertile materials to enhance an ultra-long fuelcycle based on a “convert-and-burn” core design which converts fertile material to fissile fuel and burns it in situ over a 30-year core life without fuel supplementation or shuffling. A series of reactor physics trade studies were conducted and a baseline core was developed under the specific physics design requirements of the long-life small reactor. The EM2 core performance was assessed for operation time, fuel burnup, excess reactivity, peak power density, uranium utilization, etc., and it was confirmed that an ultra-long fuelcycle core is feasible if the conversion is enough to produce fissile material and maintain criticality, the amount of matrix material is minimized not to soften the neutron spectrum, and the reactor core size is optimized to minimize the neutron loss. This study has shown the feasibility, from the reactor physics standpoint, of a compact GFR that can meet the objectives of ultra-long fuelcycle, factory-fabrication, and excellent fuel utilization.

This paper describes a comparative analysis of public transport alternatives in the city of Kaunas, Lithuania. An LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) inventory analysis of fuel chains was undertaken using the midi urban bus and a similar type of trolleybus. The inventory analysis of fuel chains followed the guidelines provided by the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards. The ReCiPe Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methodology was used to quantify weighted damage originating from five alternative fuel chains. The compressed biogas fuel chain had the lowest weighted damage value, namely 45.7 mPt/km, whereas weighted damage values of the fuel chains based on electricity generation for trolleybuses were 60.6 mPt/km (for natural gas) and 78.9 mPt/km (for heavy fuel oil). The diesel and compressed natural gas fuel chains exhibited considerably higher damage values of 114.2 mPt/km and 132.6 mPt/km, respectively. The comparative life cycle assessment of fuel chains suggested that biogas-powered buses and electric trolleybuses can be considered as the best alternatives to use when modernizing the public transport fleet in Kaunas.

Uranium processing from the pit to the fuel element rod entails metal losses at every step. These losses become more and more expensive with the elaboration of the metal. Some of the uranium must be accepted as definitely lost whilst the rest could be recovered and recycled. The high cost of these losses, whether they are recycled or not, and the fact that the higher the enrichment is the higher their costs are, make it necessary to take them into account when optimizing fuelcycles. It is therefore felt important to determine their most desirable level from an economic point of view at the various nuclear fuel processing stages. However, in France as in some other countries, fissile material production is a state concern, whilst fuel element fabrication is carried out by private enterprise. Optimization criteria and the economic value of losses are therefore different for each of the two links in the fabrication chain. One can try in spite of this to reach an optimum which would conform to public interest, without interfering with the firm's sales policy. This entails using the fact that for a given output marginal costs are equal at the optimum. One can therefore adjust the level of the losses to attain this equation of marginal costs, as these are easier to obtain from the firm than a justification of the actual prices. One notices moreover that, although mainly concerned with losses, this global analysis can bring both the state and the firm to a better use of other production factors. An account is given of the theory of this economic optimization method and practical applications in the field of natural uranium-graphite moderated and CO{sub 2} cooled reactor fuel element fabrication are offered. (authors) [French] L'elaboration de l'uranium, de la mine a la cartouche d'element combustible, s'accompagne, a tous les stades, de pertes, de plus en plus onereuses, a mesure que le metal devient plus elabore. Une certaine proportion de l

A literature search was conducted and revealed 45 publications (1996-2005) that compare bio-ethanol systems to conventional fuel on a life-cycle basis, or using life cycle assessment. Feedstocks, such as sugar beets, wheat, potato, sugar cane, and corn, have been investigated in...

A reference reactor was chosen to do a general study involving Fuel Management Evaluations of several cycles, and Design Calculations of cycles already performed, according to a calculation scheme set up in the Reactor Technology Division of the J.E.N., using some computer codes acquired to foreign sources and other ones developed in the J.E.N. (Author) 5 refs.

The present concern about a sustainable energy supply is characterised by a considerable uncertainty: the green house effect and foreseeable limits in fossil fuel resources on the one hand, the concern about the environmental impact of nuclear fission energy and the long term fusion research on the other hand, have led to the consideration of a variety of advanced strategies for the nuclear fuelcycle and related nuclear energy systems. The present research directories concern such strategies as the extension of the life span of presently operating reactors, the increase of the fuel burn-up, the plutonium recycling, and in particular the incineration of actinides and long-Lived fission products, the accelerator driven systems (ADS), like the "Energy Amplifier" (EA) concept of C. Rubbia, and the possible use of the Thorium fuelcycle. The detailed feasibility study and safety assessment of these strategies requires the accurate knowledge of neutron nuclear reaction data. Both, higher fuel burn-up and especiall...

The currently being developed advanced High Temperature gas-cooled Reactors (HTR) is able to achieve a simplification of safety through reliance on innovative features and passive systems. One of the innovative features in these HTRs is reliance on ceramic-coated fuel particles to retain the fission products even under extreme accident conditions. Traditionally, the effect of the random fuel kernel distribution in the fuel pebble / block is addressed through the use of the Dancoff correction factor in the resonance treatment. However, the Dancoff correction factor is a function of burnup and fuel kernel packing factor, which requires that the Dancoff correction factor be updated during Equilibrium FuelCycle (EqFC) analysis. An advanced KbK-sph model and whole pebble super lattice model (PSLM), which can address and update the burnup dependent Dancoff effect during the EqFC analysis. The pebble homogeneous lattice model (HLM) is verified by the burnup characteristics with the double-heterogeneous KbK-sph lattice model results. This study summarizes and compares the KbK-sph lattice model and HLM burnup analyzed results. Finally, we discuss the Monte-Carlo coupling with a fuel depletion and buildup code - ORIGEN-2 as a fuel burnup analysis tool and its PSLM calculated results for the HTR EqFC burnup analysis.

The many aspects of uranium, a heavy radioactive metal used to generate electricity throughout the world, are briefly described in relatively simple terms intended for the lay reader. An adequate glossary of unfamiliar terms is given. Uranium is a new source of electrical energy developed since 1950, and how we harness energy from it is explained. It competes with the organic coal, oil, and gas fuels as shown graphically. Uranium resources and production for the world are tabulated and discussed by country and for various energy regions in the United States. Locations of major uranium deposits and power reactors in the United States are mapped. The nuclear fuel-cycle of uranium for a typical light-water reactor is illustrated at the front end-beginning with its natural geologic occurrence in rocks through discovery, mining, and milling; separation of the scarce isotope U-235, its enrichment, and manufacture into fuel rods for power reactors to generate electricity-and at the back end-the reprocessing and handling of the spent fuel. Environmental concerns with the entire fuelcycle are addressed. The future of the use of uranium in new, simplified, 'passively safe' reactors for the utility industry is examined. The present resource assessment of uranium in the United States is out of date, and a new assessment could aid the domestic uranium industry.

An FBR closed fuelcycle involves recycling of the discharge fuel, after reprocessing and refabrication, to utilize the unburnt fuel remains and the freshly bred ﬁssile material. Our previous study in this regard for the PFBR indicated a comfortable feasibility of multiple recycling with selfsufﬁciency. In the present work, more reﬁned estimations are done using the most recent nuclear data, viz. ENDF/B-VII.0, and with the most recent speciﬁcation of the fuel composition. Among others, this paper brings out the importance of taking into account the energy self-shielding effects in the cross-section averages used in the study. While self-shielded averages lead to realistic predictions, unshielded averages signiﬁcantly overpredict breeding in the blankets and underpredict loss in the cores.

The updated and much expanded Third Edition of the "Handbook of Radioactivity Analysis" is an authoritative reference providing the principles, practical techniques, and procedures for the accurate measurement of radioactivity from the very low levels encountered in the environment to higher levels measured in radioisotope research, clinical laboratories, biological sciences, radionuclide standardization, nuclear medicine, nuclear power, fuelcycle facilities and in the implementation of nuclear forensic analysis and nuclear safeguards. The Third Edition contains seven new chapters providing a reference text much broader in scope than the previous Second Edition, and all of the other chapters have been updated and expanded many with new authors. The book describes the basic principles of radiation detection and measurement, the preparation of samples from a wide variety of matrices, assists the investigator or technician in the selection and use of appropriate radiation detectors, and presents state-of-the-ar...

This paper analyzes a number of carbon neutral cycles, which could be used to produce synthetic hydrocarbon fuels. Synthetic hydrocarbons are produced via the synthesis of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen. The . cycles considered will either utilize Gasification processes, or carbon capture as a source of feed material. In addition the cycles will be coupled to a small modular Nuclear Reactor (SMR) as a power and heat source. The goal of this analysis is to reduce or eliminate the need to transport diesel and other fossil fuels to remote regions and to provide a carbon neutral, locally produced hydrocarbon fuel for remote communities. The technical advantages as well as the economic case are discussed for each of the cycles presented. (author)

The long-term carbon cycle operates over millions of years and involves the exchange of carbon between rocks and the Earth's surface. There are many complex feedback pathways between carbon burial, nutrient cycling, atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen, and climate. New calculations of carbon fluxes during the Phanerozoic eon (the past 550 million years) illustrate how the long-term carbon cycle has affected the burial of organic matter and fossil-fuel formation, as well as the evolution of atmospheric composition.

The research described in this report was performed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to describe and compare the merits of two advanced alternative nuclear fuelcycles -- named by this study as the “UREX+3c fuel cycle” and the “Alternative Fuel Cycle” (AFC). Both fuelcycles were assumed to support 100 1,000 MWe light water reactor (LWR) nuclear power plants operating over the period 2020 through 2100, and the fast reactors (FRs) necessary to burn the plutonium and minor actinides generated by the LWRs. Reprocessing in both fuelcycles is assumed to be based on the UREX+3c process reported in earlier work by the DOE. Conceptually, the UREX+3c process provides nearly complete separation of the various components of spent nuclear fuel in order to enable recycle of reusable nuclear materials, and the storage, conversion, transmutation and/or disposal of other recovered components. Output of the process contains substantially all of the plutonium, which is recovered as a 5:1 uranium/plutonium mixture, in order to discourage plutonium diversion. Mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for recycle in LWRs is made using this 5:1 U/Pu mixture plus appropriate makeup uranium. A second process output contains all of the recovered uranium except the uranium in the 5:1 U/Pu mixture. The several other process outputs are various waste streams, including a stream of minor actinides that are stored until they are consumed in future FRs. For this study, the UREX+3c fuelcycle is assumed to recycle only the 5:1 U/Pu mixture to be used in LWR MOX fuel and to use depleted uranium (tails) for the makeup uranium. This fuelcycle is assumed not to use the recovered uranium output stream but to discard it instead. On the other hand, the AFC is assumed to recycle both the 5:1 U/Pu mixture and all of the recovered uranium. In this case, the recovered uranium is reenriched with the level of enrichment being determined by the amount of recovered plutonium and the combined amount

This research compares the use of natural gas, methanol, and hydrogen as transportation fuels. These three fuel chains start with the extraction and processing of natural gas in the Norwegian North Sea and end with final use in Central Europe. The end use is passenger transportation with a sub-compact car that has an internal combustion engine for the natural gas case and a fuel cell for the methanol and hydrogen cases. The life cycle assessment is performed by combining a process based life-cycle inventory with economic input-output data. The analysis shows that the potential climate impacts are lowest for the hydrogen fuel scenario with CO2 deposition. The hydrogen fuel chain scenario has no significant environmental disadvantage compared to the other fuel chains. Detailed analysis shows that the construction of the car contributes significantly to most impact categories. Finally, it is shown how the application of a hybrid inventory model ensures a more complete inventory description compared to standard process-based life-cycle assessment. This is particularly significant for car construction which would have been significantly underestimated in this study using standard process life-cycle assessment alone.

This paper presents the results of calculations for CANDU reactor operation in thorium fuelcycle. Calculations are performed to estimate the feasibility of operation of heavy-water thermal neutron power reactor in self-sufficient thorium cycle. Parameters of active core and scheme of fuel reloading were considered to be the same as for standard operation in uranium cycle. Two modes of operations are discussed in the paper: mode of preliminary accumulation of 233U and mode of operation in self-sufficient cycle. For the mode of accumulation of 233U it was assumed for calculations that plutonium can be used as additional fissile material to provide neutrons for 233U production. Plutonium was placed in fuel channels, while 232Th was located in target channels. Maximum content of 233U in target channels was estimated to be ∼ 13 kg/t of ThO2. This was achieved by irradiation for six years. The start of the reactor operation in the self-sufficient mode requires 233U content to be not less than 12 kg/t. For the mode of operation in self-sufficient cycle, it was assumed that all channels were loaded with identical fuel assemblies containing ThO2 and certain amount of 233U. It is shown that nonuniform distribution of 233U in fuel assembly is preferable.

In this study, the back-end nuclear fuelcycle acceptability is surveyed and analyzed in the following three aspects. To begin with, the future political situation and energy-environmental issues are analyzed as part of the socio-economic aspect. Secondly, the domestic situation of nuclear industries and the fuelcycle policy of foreign countries are surveyed as the technical aspect. Finally, NPT, IAEA safeguards and nuclear export control regimes are analyzed as the institutional aspect. The unification period of South and North Korea also will greatly affect the implementation of back-end fuelcycle policy, and public attitudes will affect the acquisition of site, construction, and operation of nuclear facilities. An effort to release international restrictions on the back-end fuelcycle is also required to accelerate the implementation of the policy. In this regard, the back-end fuelcycle policy should be clear-cut to avoid misunderstanding with respect to nuclear proliferation. Importantly, agreements with foreign countries should be amended at a mutual equivalent level. (Author) 30 refs., 5 figs., 25 tabs.

Full Text Available This paper presents the results of calculations for CANDU reactor operation in the thorium fuelcycle. The calculations were performed to estimate feasibility of operation of a heavy-water thermal neutron power reactor in the self-sufficient thorium cycle. The parameters of the active core and the scheme of fuel reloading were considered to be the same as for the standard operation in the uranium cycle. Two modes of operation are discussed in the paper: the mode of preliminary accumulation of 233U and the mode of operation in the self-sufficient cycle. For calculations for the mode of accumulation of 233U, it was assumed that plutonium was used as the additional fissile material to provide neutrons for 233U production. Plutonium was placed in fuel channels, while 232Th was located in target channels. The maximum content of 233U in the target channels was about 13 kg/t of ThO2. This was achieved by six year irradiation. The start of reactor operation in the self-sufficient mode requires content of 233U not less than 12 kg/t. For the mode of operation in the self-sufficient cycle, it was assumed that all the channels were loaded with the identical fuel assemblies containing ThO2 and a certain amount of 233U. It was shown that the non-uniform distribution of 233U in a fuel assembly is preferable.

This study elaborates a life cycle assessment of using of BTL-fuels (biomass-to-liquid). This type of fuel is produced in synthesis process from e.g. wood, straw or other biomass. The life cycle inventory data of the fuel provision with different types of conversion concepts are based on the detailed life cycle assessment compiled and published within a European research project. The inventory of the fuel use emissions is based on information published by automobile manufacturers on reductions due to the use of BTL-fuels. Passenger cars fulfilling the EURO3 emission standards are the basis for the comparison. The life cycle inventories of the use of BTL-fuels for driving in passenger cars are investigated from cradle to grave. The full life cycle is investigated with the transportation of one person over one kilometre (pkm) as a functional unit. This includes all stages of the life cycle of a fuel (biomass and fuel production, distribution, combustion) and the necessary infrastructure (e.g. tractors, conversion plant, cars and streets). The use of biofuels is mainly promoted for the reason of reducing the climate change impact and the use of scarce non-renewable resources e.g. crude oil. The possible implementation of BTL-fuel production processes would potentially help to achieve this goal. The emissions of greenhouse gases due to transport services could be reduced by 28% to 69% with the BTL-processes using straw, forest wood or short-rotation wood as a biomass input. The reduction potential concerning non-renewable energy resources varies between 37% und 61%. A previous study showed that many biofuels cause higher environmental impacts than fossil fuels if several types of ecological problems are considered. The study uses two single score impact assessment methods for the evaluation of the overall environmental impacts, namely the Eco-indicator 99 (H,A) and the Swiss ecological scarcity 2006 method. The transportation with the best BTL-fuel from short

Bio-jet fuels compatible with current aviation infrastructure are needed as an alternative to petroleum-based jet fuel to lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Cradle to grave life cycle analysis is used to investigate the global warming potential and fossil fuel use of converting poplar biomass to drop-in bio-jet fuel via a novel bioconversion platform. Unique to the biorefinery designs in this research is an acetogen fermentation step. Following dilute acid pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis, poplar biomass is fermented to acetic acid and then distilled, hydroprocessed, and oligomerized to jet fuel. Natural gas steam reforming and lignin gasification are proposed to meet hydrogen demands at the biorefineries. Separate well to wake simulations are performed using the hydrogen production processes to obtain life cycle data. Both biorefinery designs are assessed using natural gas and hog fuel to meet excess heat demands. Global warming potential of the natural gas steam reforming and lignin gasification bio-jet fuel scenarios range from CO2 equivalences of 60 to 66 and 32 to 73 g MJ(-1), respectively. Fossil fuel usage of the natural gas steam reforming and lignin gasification bio-jet fuel scenarios range from 0.78 to 0.84 and 0.71 to 1.0 MJ MJ(-1), respectively. Lower values for each impact category result from using hog fuel to meet excess heat/steam demands. Higher values result from using natural gas to meet the excess heat demands. Bio-jet fuels produced from the bioconversion of poplar biomass reduce the global warming potential and fossil fuel use compared with petroleum-based jet fuel. Production of hydrogen is identified as a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel use in both the natural gas steam reforming and lignin gasification bio-jet simulations. Using hog fuel instead of natural gas to meet heat demands can help lower the global warming potential and fossil fuel use at the biorefineries.

The operation of an ADT system with the associated nuclear reactions has a profound effect upon the chemistry of the fuel - especially with regards to container compatibility and the chemical separations that may be required. The container can be protected by maintaining the redox chemistry within a relatively narrow, non-corrosive window. Neutron economy as well as other factors require a sophisticated regime of fission product separations. Neither of these control requirements has been demonstrated on the scale or degree of sophistication necessary to support an ADT device. We review the present situation with respect to fluoride salts, and focus on the critical issues in these areas which must be addressed. One requirement for advancement in this area - a supply of suitable materials - will soon be fulfilled by the remediation of ORNL's Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, and the removal of a total of 11,000 kg of enriched (Li-7 > 99.9%) coolant, flush, and fuel salts.

During the second phase of research and development program conducted from 1993 to 1996, nuclear material safeguards studies system were performed on the technology development of DUPIC safeguards system such as nuclear material measurement in bulk form and product form, DUPIC fuel reactivity measurement, near-real-time accountancy, and containment and surveillance system for effective and efficient implementation of domestic and international safeguards obligation. By securing in advance a optimized safeguards system with domestically developed hardware and software, it will contribute not only to the effective implementation of DUPIC safeguards, but also to enhance the international confidence build-up in peaceful use of spent fuel material. (author). 27 refs., 13 tabs., 89 figs.

This report provides a preliminary assessment of the computational tools and existing methods used to obtain radiation dose rates from shielded spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste (HLW). Particular emphasis is placed on analysis tools and techniques applicable to facilities/equipment designed for the transport or storage of spent nuclear fuel or HLW. Applications to cask transport, storage, and facility handling are considered. The report reviews the analytic techniques for generating appropriate radiation sources, evaluating the radiation transport through the shield, and calculating the dose at a desired point or surface exterior to the shield. Discrete ordinates, Monte Carlo, and point kernel methods for evaluating radiation transport are reviewed, along with existing codes and data that utilize these methods. A literature survey was employed to select a cadre of codes and data libraries to be reviewed. The selection process was based on specific criteria presented in the report. Separate summaries were written for several codes (or family of codes) that provided information on the method of solution, limitations and advantages, availability, data access, ease of use, and known accuracy. For each data library, the summary covers the source of the data, applicability of these data, and known verification efforts. Finally, the report discusses the overall status of spent fuel shielding analysis techniques and attempts to illustrate areas where inaccuracy and/or uncertainty exist. The report notes the advantages and limitations of several analysis procedures and illustrates the importance of using adequate cross-section data sets. Additional work is recommended to enable final selection/validation of analysis tools that will best meet the US Department of Energy's requirements for use in developing a viable HLW management system. 188 refs., 16 figs., 27 tabs.

The recent civil nuclear cooperation proposed by the Bush Administration and the Government of India has heightened the necessity of assessing India's nuclear fuelcycle inclusive of nuclear materials and facilities. This agreement proposes to change the long-standing U.S. policy of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons by denying nuclear technology transfer to non-NPT signatory states. The nuclear tests in 1998 have convinced the world community that India would never relinquish its nuclear arsenal. This has driven the desire to engage India through civilian nuclear cooperation. The cornerstone of any civilian nuclear technological support necessitates the separation of military and civilian facilities. A complete nuclear fuelcycle assessment of India emphasizes the entwinment of the military and civilian facilities and would aid in moving forward with the separation plan. To estimate the existing uranium reserves in India, a complete historical assessment of ore production, conversion, and processing capabilities was performed using open source information and compared to independent reports. Nuclear energy and plutonium production (reactor- and weapons-grade) was simulated using declared capacity factors and modern simulation tools. The three-stage nuclear power program entities and all the components of civilian and military significance were assembled into a flowsheet to allow for a macroscopic vision of the Indian fuelcycle. A detailed view of the nuclear fuelcycle opens avenues for technological collaboration. The fuelcycle that grows from this study exploits domestic thorium reserves with advanced international technology and optimized for the existing system. To utilize any appreciable fraction of the world's supply of thorium, nuclear breeding is necessary. The two known possibilities for production of more fissionable material in the reactor than is consumed as fuel are fast breeders or thermal breeders. This dissertation analyzes a thermal

The Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) under development by Argonne National Laboratory uses metallic fuels instead of ceramics. This allows electrorefining of spent fuels and presents opportunities for recycling minor actinide elements. Four minor actinides ({sup 237}Np, {sup 240}Pu, {sup 241}Am, and {sup 243}Am) determine the waste storage requirements of spent fuel from all types of fission reactors. These nuclides behave the same as uranium and other plutonium isotopes in electrorefining, so they can be recycled back to the reactor without elaborate chemical processing. An experiment has been designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the high-energy neutron spectra of the IFR in consuming these four nuclides and plutonium. Eighteen sets of seven actinide and five light metal targets have been selected for ten day exposure in the Experimental Breeder Reactor-2 which serves as a prototype of the IFR. Post-irradiation analyses of the exposed targets by gamma, alpha, and mass spectroscopy are used to determine nuclear reaction-rates and neutron spectra. These experimental data increase the authors` confidence in their ability to predict reaction rates in candidate IFR designs using a variety of neutron transport and diffusion programs.

The Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) under development by Argonne National Laboratory uses metallic fuels instead of ceramics. This allows electrorefining of spent fuels and presents opportunities for recycling minor actinide elements. Four minor actinides ({sup 237}Np, {sup 240}Pu, {sup 241}Am, and {sup 243}Am) determine the waste storage requirements of spent fuel from all types of fission reactors. These nuclides behave the same as uranium and other plutonium isotopes in electrorefining, so they can be recycled back to the reactor without elaborate chemical processing. An experiment has been designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the high-energy neutron spectra of the IFR in consuming these four nuclides and plutonium. Eighteen sets of seven actinide and five light metal targets have been selected for ten day exposure in the Experimental Breeder Reactor-2 which serves as a prototype of the IFR. Post-irradiation analyses of the exposed targets by gamma, alpha, and mass spectroscopy are used to determine nuclear reaction-rates and neutron spectra. These experimental data increase the authors` confidence in their ability to predict reaction rates in candidate IFR designs using a variety of neutron transport and diffusion programs.

The site of temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, situated at Andreeva Bay in Northwest Russia, was developed in the 1960s, and it has carried out receipt and storage of fresh and spent nuclear fuel, and solid and liquid radioactive waste generated during the operation of nuclear submarines and nuclear-powered icebreakers. The site is now operated as the western branch of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise, SevRAO. In the course of operation over several decades, the containment barriers in the Spent Nuclear Fuel and Radioactive Waste storage facilities partially lost their containment effectiveness, so workshop facilities and parts of the site became contaminated with radioactive substances. This paper describes work being undertaken to provide an updated regulatory basis for the protection of workers during especially hazardous remediation activities, necessary because of the unusual radiation conditions at the site. It describes the results of recent survey work carried out by the Burnasyan Federal Medical Biophysical Centre, within a programme of regulatory cooperation between the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority and the Federal Medical-Biological Agency of Russia. The survey work and subsequent analyses have contributed to the development of special regulations setting out radiological protection requirements for operations planned at the site. Within these requirements, and taking account of a variety of other factors, a continuing need arises for the implementation of optimisation of remediation at Andreeva Bay.

A number of crucial design issues have a profound effect on the dynamics of the tritium fuelcycle in a DT fusion reactor, where the development of appropriate solutions to these issues is of particular importance to the introduction of fusion as a commercial system. Such tritium-related issues can be classified according to their operational, safety, and economic impact to the operation of the reactor during its lifetime. Given such key design issues inherent in next generation fusion devices using the DT fuelcycle development of appropriate models can then lead to optimized designs of the fusion fuelcycle for different types of DT fusion reactors. In this work, two different types of modeling approaches are developed and their application to solving key tritium issues presented. For the first approach, time-dependent inventories, concentrations, and flow rates characterizing the main subsystems of the fuelcycle are simulated with a new dynamic modular model of a fusion reactor's fuelcycle, named X-TRUFFLES (X-Windows TRitiUm Fusion FuelcycLE dynamic Simulation). The complex dynamic behavior of the recycled fuel within each of the modeled subsystems is investigated using this new integrated model for different reactor scenarios and design approaches. Results for a proposed fuelcycle design taking into account current technologies are presented, including sensitivity studies. Ways to minimize the tritium inventory are also assessed by examining various design options that could be used to minimize local and global tritium inventories. The second modeling approach involves an analytical model to be used for the calculation of the required tritium breeding ratio, i.e., a primary design issue which relates directly to the feasibility and economics of DT fusion systems. A time-integrated global tritium balance scheme is developed and appropriate analytical expressions are derived for tritium self-sufficiency relevant parameters. The easy exploration of the large

Full Text Available Wheel loaders in the V-type loading cycle are characterized by complicated loading conditions, nonlinear power-train system, and time-variable engine power distribution. Therefore, it is difficult to predict the fuel consumption of wheel loaders in the V-type loading cycle. The static matching methods cannot provide fuel consumption prediction for the loading cycle. In this paper, the prediction method and model of the fuel consumption for wheel loaders in the V-type loading cycle were proposed. Firstly, the hydraulic system data were tested when a wheel loader loaded three different materials in a typical V-type loading cycle. Secondly, the tested data were filtered by the 8th-order Butterworth filter and the dimensionless power deduction equations of hydraulic power system for loading three different materials were obtained by Gaussian and linear fitting based on the filtered data in the loading cycle. Finally, fuel consumption was obtained with the compiling dynamic calculation program as well as input parameters of tested vehicle speed, throttle parameter, and the dimensionless equation. The simulation results agreed well with experiment results. Dynamic calculation program is applicable to calculate loading economy and can provide academic guidance for wheel loader’s design and optimization.

Interim, centralized, engineered (dry cask) storage facilities for USA light water power reactor spent nuclear fuel (SNF) should be implemented to complement and to offer much needed flexibility while the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is funded to complete its evaluation of the Yucca Mountain License and to subject it to public hearings. The interim sites should use the credo reproduced in Table 1 [Bunn, M., 2001. Interim Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel. Harvard University and University of Tokyo] and involve both the industry and government. The sites will help settle the 50 pending lawsuits against the government and the $11 billion of potential additional liabilities for SNF delay damages if Yucca Mountain does not being operation in 2020 [DOE, 2008a. Report to Congress on the Demonstration of the Interim Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel from Decommissioned Nuclear Power Stations (December)]. Under the developing consensus to proceed with closed fuelcycles, it will be necessary to develop SNF separation facilities with stringent requirements upon separation processes and upon generation of only highly resistant waste forms. The location of such facilities at the interim storage sites would offer great benefits to those sites and assure their long term viability by returning them to their original status. The switch from once-through to closed fuelcycle will require extensive time and development work as illustrated in 'The Path to Sustainable Nuclear Energy' [DOE, 2005. The Path to Sustainable Nuclear Energy. Basic and Applied Research Opportunities for Advanced FuelCycles. DOE (September)]. A carefully crafted long term program, funded for at least 5 years, managed by a strong joint government-industry team, and subjected to regular independent reviews should be considered to assure the program stability and success. The new uncertainty about Yucca Mountain role raises two key issues: (a) what to do with the weapons and other high level government

The Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) is moving forward with more complex multiphysics simulations and increased focus on incorporating fuel performance analysis methods. The coupled neutronics/thermal-hydraulics capabilities within the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications Core Simulator (VERA-CS) have become relatively stable, and major advances have been made in analysis efforts, including the simulation of twelve cycles of Watts Bar Nuclear Unit 1 (WBN1) operation. While this is a major achievement, the VERA-CS approaches for treating fuel pin heat transfer have well-known limitations that could be eliminated through better integration with the BISON fuel performance code. Several approaches are being implemented to consider fuel performance, including a more direct multiway coupling with Tiamat, as well as a more loosely coupled one-way approach with standalone BISON cases. Fuel performance typically undergoes an independent analysis using a standalone fuel performance code with manually specified input defined from an independent core simulator solution or set of assumptions. This report summarizes the improvements made since the initial milestone to execute BISON from VERA-CS output. Many of these improvements were prompted through tighter collaboration with the BISON development team at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). A brief description of WBN1 and some of the VERA-CS data used to simulate it are presented. Data from a small mesh sensitivity study are shown, which helps justify the mesh parameters used in this work. The multi-cycle results are presented, followed by the results for the first three cycles of WBN1 operation, particularly the parameters of interest to pellet-clad interaction (PCI) screening (fuel-clad gap closure, maximum centerline fuel temperature, maximum/minimum clad hoop stress, and cumulative damage index). Once the mechanics of this capability are functioning, future work will target cycles with

Hydrocarbon fuel production and utilization are considered water intensive processes due to the high volumes of water used in source development and fuel processing. At the same time, there is significant water formed during combustion. However, this water is not currently widely harvested at the site of production. Instead, it is added to the hydrologic cycle, often in a different location from the fuel production site. This study quantifies the water formed from combustion of these fuels and analyzes the magnitudes of formation in the context of other hydrologic sources and sinks in order to facilitate future assessments of water harvesting technology and/or atmospheric impacts of combustion. Annual water formation from stoichiometric combustion of hydrocarbon fuels, including natural gas, oil- and natural gas liquid-derived products, and coal, in the United States and worldwide are presented and compared with quantities of water sequestered, evaporated, and stored in the atmosphere. Water production factors in terms of mass and energy of fuel consumed, WPFm and WPFe, respectively, are defined for the comparison of fuels and incorporation into future life cycle analyses (LCAs). Results show that water formation from combustion has increased worldwide from 2005 to 2015, with the largest increase coming from growth in combustion of natural gas. Water formation from combustion of hydrocarbon fuels equals or exceeds water sequestered from the hydrologic cycle through deep well injection in the US annually. Overall, water formation is deemed significant enough to warrant consideration by LCAs of water intensity in fuel production and use, and should be included in future analyses.

A substantial part of such cooperation is related to the front-end of the nuclear fuelcycle, which encompasses the processes that help manufacturing nuclear fuel, including mining and milling of natural uranium, refining and chemical conversion, enrichment (in case of fuels for Pressurized Water Reactor PWR), and fuel fabrication. Traditionally, the supply of natural uranium was dominated by Canada and Australia, whereas enrichment services have been mostly provided by companies from Western states or Russia, which are also the main customers of such services. However, Kazakhstan and African countries like Niger, Namibia, and Malawi have emerged as important suppliers in the international uranium market and recent forecasts show that China will soon become a major player in the front-end market as both consumer and service provider. In this paper, the correlation between bilateral civil nuclear cooperation in front-end of the nuclear fuelcycle and the political and economic relationship among countries was examined through a dataset of bilateral nuclear cooperation in the post-Cold War era, from 1990 to 2011. Such finding has implication on not only the nonproliferation research but also the necessary reinforcement of export control regimes like such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Further improvement of this dataset and the regression method are also needed in order to increase the robustness of the findings as well as to cover the whole scope of the nuclear fuelcycle, including both front-end and back-end activities.

This report is a collection and review of system operation and failure experiences for facilities comprising the fission reactor fuelcycle, with the exception of reactor operations. This report includes mines, mills, conversion plants, enrichment plants, fuel fabrication plants, transportation of fuel materials between these centers, and waste storage facilities. Some of the facilities discussed are no longer operating; others continue to produce fuel for the commercial fission power plant industry. Some of the facilities discussed have been part of the military’s nuclear effort; these are included when the processes used are similar to those used for commercial nuclear power. When reading compilations of incidents and accidents, after repeated entries it is natural to form an opinion that there exists nothing but accidents. For this reason, production or throughput values are described when available. These adverse operating experiences are compiled to support the design and decisions needed for the Advanced FuelCycle Initiative (AFCI). The AFCI is to weigh options for a new fission reactor fuelcycle that is efficient, safe, and productive for US energy security.

We conducted a mobility chains, or well-to-wheels (WTW), analysis to assess the energy and emission benefits of cellulosic biomass for the U.S. transportation sector in the years 2015-2030. We estimated the life-cycle energy consumption and emissions associated with biofuel production and use in light-duty vehicle (LDV) technologies by using the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) model. Analysis of biofuel production was based on ASPEN Plus model simulation of an advanced fermentation process to produce fuel ethanol/protein, a thermochemical process to produce Fischer-Tropsch diesel (FTD) and dimethyl ether (DME), and a combined heat and power plant to co-produce steam and electricity. Our study revealed that cellulosic biofuels as E85 (mixture of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline by volume), FTD, and DME offer substantial savings in petroleum (66-93%) and fossil energy (65-88%) consumption on a per-mile basis. Decreased fossil fuel use translates to 82-87% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions across all unblended cellulosic biofuels. In urban areas, our study shows net reductions for almost all criteria pollutants, with the exception of carbon monoxide (unchanged), for each of the biofuel production option examined. Conventional and hybrid electric vehicles, when fueled with E85, could reduce total sulfur oxide (SO(x)) emissions to 39-43% of those generated by vehicles fueled with gasoline. By using bio-FTD and bio-DME in place of diesel, SO(x) emissions are reduced to 46-58% of those generated by diesel-fueled vehicles. Six different fuel production options were compared. This study strongly suggests that integrated heat and power co-generation by means of gas turbine combined cycle is a crucial factor in the energy savings and emission reductions.

This life cycle design (LCD) project was a collaborative effort between the National Pollution Prevention Center at the University of Michigan, General Motors (GM), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The primary objective of this project was to apply life cyc...

Full Text Available The paper presents a methodology and an example how to calculate thermo-dynamically justified specific consumer of reference fuel at combined generation of heat and electric power. The methodology is based on an analytical generalization of mode diagrams of the turbine which installed at the TPP.While calculating self-cost the paper proposes to exclude a conditional division of the equipment into heat- or electric power generating one and heat tariff calculation is carried out on the basis of a market price for electric power.

Renewable and low carbon fuel standards being developed at federal and state levels require an estimation of the life cycle carbon intensity (LCCI) of candidate fuels that can substitute for gasoline, such as second generation bioethanol. Estimating the LCCI of such fuels with a high degree of confidence requires the use of probabilistic methods to account for known sources of uncertainty. We construct life cycle models for the bioconversion of agricultural residue (corn stover) and energy crops (switchgrass) and explicitly examine uncertainty using Monte Carlo simulation. Using statistical methods to identify significant model variables from public data sets and Aspen Plus chemical process models,we estimate stochastic life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the two feedstocks combined with two promising fuel conversion technologies. The approach can be generalized to other biofuel systems. Our results show potentially high and uncertain GHG emissions for switchgrass-ethanol due to uncertain CO₂ flux from land use change and N₂O flux from N fertilizer. However, corn stover-ethanol,with its low-in-magnitude, tight-in-spread LCCI distribution, shows considerable promise for reducing life cycle GHG emissions relative to gasoline and corn-ethanol. Coproducts are important for reducing the LCCI of all ethanol fuels we examine.

Complex energy and environment system, especially nuclear fuelcycle system recently raised social concerns about the issues of economic competitiveness, environmental effect and nuclear proliferation. Only under the condition that those conflicting issues are gotten a consensus between stakeholders with different knowledge background, can nuclear power industry be continuingly developed. In this paper, a new analysis platform has been developed to help stakeholders to recognize and analyze various socio-technical issues in the nuclear fuelcycle system based on the functional modeling method named Multilevel Flow Models (MFM) according to the cognition theory of human being. Its character is that MFM models define a set of mass, energy and information flow structures on multiple levels of abstraction to describe the functional structure of a process system and its graphical symbol representation and the means-end and part-whole hierarchical flow structure to make the represented process easy to be understood. Based upon this methodology, a micro-process and a macro-process of nuclear fuelcycle system were selected to be simulated and some analysis processes such as economics analysis, environmental analysis and energy balance analysis related to those flows were also integrated to help stakeholders to understand the process of decision-making with the introduction of some new functions for the improved Multilevel Flow Models Studio, and finally the simple simulation such as spent fuel management process simulation and money flow of nuclear fuelcycle and its levelised cost analysis will be represented as feasible examples.

In February 1991, DOE and the Commission of the European Communities (EC), signed a joint statement regarding the external costs of fuelcycles. This 18-month agreement committed their respective organizations to develop a comparative analytical methodology and to develop the best range of estimates of external costs from secondary sources'' for eight fuelcycles and four conservation options. In our study, a fuelcycle is defined as the series of physical and chemical processes and activities that are required to generate electricity from a specific fuel or resource. This foundation phase of the study is primarily limited to developing and demonstrating methods for estimating impacts and their monetized value, what we term damages'' or benefits,'' leaving aside the extent to which such damages have been internalized. However, Appendix C provides the conceptual framework for evaluating the extent of internalization. This report is a background document to introduce the study approach and to discuss the major conceptual and practical issues entailed by the incremental damage problem. As a background document, the report seeks to communicate an overview of the study and the important methodological choices that were made to conduct the research. In successive sections of the report, the methodological tools used in the study are discussed; the ecological and health impacts are reviewed using the coal fuelcycle as a reference case; and, in the final chapter, the methods for valuing impacts are detailed.

Several reactivity control system design options are explored in order to satisfy shutdown margin (SDM) requirements in a high conversion BWRs operating in Th-233U fuelcycle (Th-RBWR). The studied has an axially heterogeneous fuel assembly structure with a single fissile zone sandwiched between two fertile blanket zones. The utilization of an originally suggested RBWR Y-shape control rod in Th-RBWR is shown to be insufficient for maintaining adequate SDM to balance the high negative reactivity feedbacks, while maintaining fuel breeding potential, core power rating, and minimum Critical Power Ratio (CPR). Instead, an alternative assembly design, also relying on heterogeneous fuel zoning, is proposed for achieving fissile inventory ratio (FIR) above unity, adequate SDM and meeting minimum CPR limit at thermal core output matching the ABWR power. The new concept was modeled as a single 3-dimensional fuel assembly having reflective radial boundaries, using the BGCore system, which consists of the MCNP code coupl...

The influence of different driving cycles on their exhaust emissions and fuel consumption rate of gasoline passenger car was investigated in Bangkok based on the actual measurements obtained from a test vehicle driving on a standard chassis dynamometer. A newly established Bangkok driving cycle (BDC) and the European driving cycle (EDC) which is presently adopted as the legislative cycle for testing automobiles registered in Thailand were used. The newly developed BDC is constructed using the driving characteristic data obtained from the real on-road driving tests along selected traffic routes. A method for selecting appropriate road routes for real driving tests is also introduced. Variations of keyed driving parameters of BDC with different driving cycles were discussed. The results showed that the HC and CO emission factors of BDC are almost two and four times greater than those of EDC, respectively. Although the difference in the NOx emission factor is small, the value from BDC is still greater than that of EDC by 10%. Under BDC, the test vehicle consumes fuel about 25% more than it does under EDC. All these differences are mainly attributed to the greater proportion of idle periods and higher fluctuations of vehicle speed in the BDC cycle. This result indicated that the exhausted emissions and fuel consumption of vehicles obtained from tests under the legislative modal-type driving cycle (EDC) are significantly different from those actually produced under real traffic conditions especially during peak periods.

The influence of different driving cycles on their exhaust emissions and fuel consumption rate of gasoline passenger car was investigated in Bangkok based on the actual measurements obtained from a test vehicle driving on a standard chassis dynamometer. A newly established Bangkok driving cycle (BDC) and the European driving cycle (EDC) which is presently adopted as the legislative cycle for testing automobiles registered in Thailand were used. The newly developed BDC is constructed using the driving characteristic data obtained from the real on-road driving tests along selected traffic routes. A method for selecting appropriate road routes for real driving tests is also introduced. Variations of keyed driving parameters of BDC with different driving cycles were discussed. The results showed that the HC and CO emission factors of BDC are almost two and four times greater than those of EDC, respectively. Although the difference in the NOx emission factor is small, the value from BDC is still greater than that of EDC by 10%. Under BDC, the test vehicle consumes fuel about 25% more than it does under EDC. All these differences are mainly attributed to the greater proportion of idle periods and higher fluctuations of vehicle speed in the BDC cycle. This result indicated that the exhausted emissions and fuel consumption of vehicles obtained from tests under the legislative modal-type driving cycle (EDC) are significantly different from those actually produced under real traffic conditions especially during peak periods.

This document starts with an overview that summarizes nuclear power policies and waste management activities for nations with significant commercial nuclear fuelcycle activities either under way or planned. A more detailed program summary is then included for each country or international agency conducting nuclear fuelcycle and waste management research and development. This second volume includes the program summaries of those countries listed alphabetically from Japan to Yugoslavia. Information on international agencies and associations, particularly the IAEA, NEA, and CEC, is provided also.

The Fast Flux Test Facility is the most recent Liquid Metal Reactor to operate in the United States. Information from the design, construction, and operation of this reactor was at risk as the facilities associated with the reactor are being shut down. The Advanced FuelCycle Initiative is a program managed by the Office of Nuclear Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy with a mission to develop new fuelcycle technologies to support both current and advanced reactors. Securing and preserving the knowledge gained from operation and testing in the Fast Flux Test Facility is an important part of the Knowledge Preservation activity in this program.

For environment protection and high efficiency, development of new concept power plant has been required in China. The fuel cell is expected to be used in a power plant as a centralized power station or distributed power plant. It is a chemical power generation device that converts the energy of a chemical reaction directly into electrical energy and not limited by Carnot cycle efficiency. The molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) power plant has several attractive features I.e. High efficiency and lower emission of Nox and Sox. A combined cycle generation system with MCFC and steam turbine is designed. Its net electrical efficiency LHV is about 55%.

A notional 440 kW auxiliary power unit has been developed for 300 passenger commercial transport aircraft in 2015AD. A hybrid engine using solid-oxide fuel cell stacks and a gas turbine bottoming cycle has been considered. Steady-state performance analysis during cruise operation has been presented. Trades between performance efficiency and system mass were conducted with system specific energy as the discriminator. Fuel cell performance was examined with an area specific resistance. The ratio of fuel cell versus turbine power was explored through variable fuel utilization. Area specific resistance, fuel utilization, and mission length had interacting effects upon system specific energy. During cruise operation, the simple cyclefuel cell/gas turbine hybrid was not able to outperform current turbine-driven generators for system specific energy, despite a significant improvement in system efficiency. This was due in part to the increased mass of the hybrid engine, and the increased water flow required for on-board fuel reformation. Two planar, anode-supported cell design concepts were considered. Designs that seek to minimize the metallic interconnect layer mass were seen to have a large effect upon the system mass estimates.

The presence of variability in life cycle analysis (LCA) is inherent due to both inexact LCA procedures and variation of numerical inputs. Variability in LCA needs to be clearly distinguished from uncertainty. This paper uses specific examples from the production of diesel and jet fuels from 14 different feedstocks to demonstrate general trends in the types and magnitudes of variability present in life cycle greenhouse gas (LC-GHG) inventories of middle distillate fuels. Sources of variability have been categorized as pathway specific, coproduct usage and allocation, and land use change. The results of this research demonstrate that subjective choices such as coproduct usage and allocation methodology can be more important sources of variability in the LC-GHG inventory of a fuel option than the process and energy use of fuel production. Through the application of a consistent analysis methodology across all fuel options, the influence of these subjective biases is minimized, and the LC-GHG inventories for each feedstock-to-fuel option can be effectively compared and discussed. By considering the types and magnitudes of variability across multiple fuel pathways, it is evident that LCA results should be presented as a range instead of a point value. The policy implications of this are discussed.

Highlights: • BWR core operating in a closed self-sustainable Th-{sup 233}U fuelcycle. • Shutdown Margin in Th-RBWR design. • Fully coupled MC with fuel depletion and thermo-hydraulic feedback modules. • Thermal–hydraulic analysis includes MCPR observation. - Abstract: Several reactivity control system design options are explored in order to satisfy shutdown margin (SDM) requirements in a high conversion BWRs operating in Th-{sup 233}U fuelcycle (Th-RBWR). The studied core has an axially heterogeneous fuel assembly structure with a single fissile zone “sandwiched” between two fertile blanket zones. The utilization of an originally suggested RBWR Y-shape control rod in Th-RBWR is shown to be insufficient for maintaining adequate SDM to balance the high negative reactivity feedbacks, while maintaining fuel breeding potential, core power rating, and minimum Critical Power Ratio (CPR). Implementation of alternative reactivity control materials, reducing axial leakage through non-uniform enrichment distribution, use of burnable poisons, reducing number of pins as well as increasing pin diameter are also shown to be incapable of meeting the SDM requirements. Instead, an alternative assembly design, based on Rod Cluster Control Assembly with absorber rods was investigated. This design matches the reference ABWR core power and has adequate shutdown margin. The new concept was modeled as a single three-dimensional fuel assembly having reflective radial boundaries, using the BGCore system, which consists of the MCNP code coupled with fuel depletion and thermo-hydraulic feedback modules.

There were approximately 926 m(3) of water contaminated by fission products and actinides in the Taiwan Research Reactor's spent fuel pool (TRR SFP). The solid and ionic contaminants were thoroughly characterized using radiochemical analyses, scanning electron microscopy equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS), and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) in this study. The sludge was made up of agglomerates contaminated by spent fuel particles. Suspended solids from spent ion-exchange resins interfered with the clarity of the water. In addition, the ionic radionuclides such as (137)Cs, (90)Sr, U, and α-emitters, present in the water were measured. Various filters and cation-exchange resins were employed for water treatment trials, and the results indicated that the solid and ionic contaminants could be effectively removed through the use of filters and cation exchange resins, respectively. Interestingly, the removal of U was obviously efficient by cation exchange resin, and the ceramic depth filter composed of diatomite exhibited the properties of both filtration and adsorption. It was found that the ceramic depth filter could adsorb β-emitters, α-emitters, and uranium ions. The diatomite-based ceramic depth filter was able to simultaneously eliminate particles and adsorb ionic radionuclides from water.

Cycle simulation and analysis for two kinds of SOFC/GT hybrid systems were conducted with the help of the simulation tool: Aspen Custom Modeler. Two cycle schemes of recuperative heat exchanger (RHE) and exhaust gas recirculated (EGR) were described according to the air reheating method. The system performance with operating pressure, turbine inlet temperature and fuel cell load were studied based on the simulation results. Then the effects of oxygen utilization, fuel utilization, operating temperature and efficiencies of the gas turbine components on the system performance of the RHE cycle and the EGR cycle were discussed in detail. Simulation results indicated that the system optimum efficiency for the EGR air reheating cycle scheme was higher than that of the RHE cycle system. A higher pressure ratio would be available for the EGR cycle system in comparison with the RHE cycle. It was found that increasing fuel utilization or oxygen utilization would decrease fuel cell efficiency but improve the system efficiency for both of the RHE and EGR cycles. The efficiency of the RHE cycle hybrid system decreased as the fuel cell air inlet temperature increased. However, the system efficiency of EGR cycle increased with fuel cell air inlet temperature. The effect of turbine efficiency on the system efficiency was more obvious than the effect of the compressor and recuperator efficiencies among the gas turbine components. It was also indicated that improving the gas turbine component efficiencies for the RHE cycle increased system efficiency higher than that for the EGR cycle.

Uranium (U), cobalt (Co), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), thorium (Th) and zinc (Zn) occur naturally in soil but their radioactive isotopes can also be released into the environment during the nuclear fuelcycle. The transfer of these elements was studied in three different trophic levels in experimental mesocosms containing downy birch (Betula pubescens), narrow buckler fern (Dryopteris carthusiana) and Scandinavian small-reed (Calamagrostis purpurea ssp. Phragmitoides) as producers, snails (Arianta arbostorum) as herbivores, and earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris) as decomposers. To determine more precisely whether the element uptake of snails is mainly via their food (birch leaves) or both via soil and food, a separate microcosm experiment was also performed. The element uptake of snails did not generally depend on the presence of soil, indicating that the main uptake route was food, except for U, where soil contact was important for uptake when soil U concentration was high. Transfer of elements from soil to plants was not linear, i.e. it was not correctly described by constant concentration ratios (CR) commonly applied in radioecological modeling. Similar nonlinear transfer was found for the invertebrate animals included in this study: elements other than U were taken up more efficiently when element concentration in soil or food was low. - Highlights: • We studied transfer of elements in boreal food chain using meso- and microcosms. • Elements related to nuclear fuelcycle and mining were examined. • Higher uptake at lower soil concentrations was observed for primary producers. • Snails took up elements mainly from food but for U also soil was an element source. • Non-linear transfer of essential elements was observed for herbivore and decomposer.

In this presentation, the author aims to define the major role of the nuclear energy in the future, according a sustainable development scenario. The today aging park and the new Generation IV technologies are presented. The transition scenario from Pu mono-recycling in PWRs to actinide global recycling in fast neutron Gen IV systems is also developed. Closed cycles and fast reactors appear as the appropriate answer to sustainable objectives in a vision of a large expansion. (A.L.B.)

Full Text Available Solid oxide fuel cells are able to convert fuels, including hydrocarbons, to electricity with an unbeatable efficiency even for small systems. One of the main limitations for long-term utilization is the reduction-oxidation cycling (RedOx cycles of the nickel-based anodes. This paper will review the effects and parameters influencing RedOx cycles of the Ni-ceramic anode. Second, solutions for RedOx instability are reviewed in the patent and open scientific literature. The solutions are described from the point of view of the system, stack design, cell design, new materials and microstructure optimization. Finally, a brief synthesis on RedOx cycling of Ni-based anode supports for standard and optimized microstructures is depicted.

.... (b) If only one equivalent petroleum-based fuel economy value exists for an electric configuration...-cyclefuel economy for that configuration. (c) If more than one equivalent petroleum-based 5-cyclefuel...-specific 5-cycle-based fuel economy values for vehicle configurations. 600.207-08 Section...

The purpose of this document is to provide a guide for using the current version of the Verifiable FuelCycle Simulation (VISION) model. This is a complex model with many parameters and options; the user is strongly encouraged to read this user guide before attempting to run the model. This model is an R&D work in progress and may contain errors and omissions. It is based upon numerous assumptions. This model is intended to assist in evaluating 'what if' scenarios and in comparing fuel, reactor, and fuel processing alternatives at a systems level. The model is not intended as a tool for process flow and design modeling of specific facilities nor for tracking individual units of fuel or other material through the system. The model is intended to examine the interactions among the components of a fuel system as a function of time varying system parameters; this model represents a dynamic rather than steady-state approximation of the nuclear fuel system. VISION models the nuclear cycle at the system level, not individual facilities, e.g., 'reactor types' not individual reactors and 'separation types' not individual separation plants. Natural uranium can be enriched, which produces enriched uranium, which goes into fuel fabrication, and depleted uranium (DU), which goes into storage. Fuel is transformed (transmuted) in reactors and then goes into a storage buffer. Used fuel can be pulled from storage into either separation or disposal. If sent to separations, fuel is transformed (partitioned) into fuel products, recovered uranium, and various categories of waste. Recycled material is stored until used by its assigned reactor type. VISION is comprised of several Microsoft Excel input files, a Powersim Studio core, and several Microsoft Excel output files. All must be co-located in the same folder on a PC to function. You must use Powersim Studio 8 or better. We have tested VISION with the Studio 8 Expert, Executive, and Education versions

The DARWIN package, developed by the CEA and its French partners (AREVA and EDF) provides the required parameters for fuelcycle applications: fuel inventory, decay heat, activity, neutron, {gamma}, {alpha}, {beta} sources and spectrum, radiotoxicity. This paper presents the DARWIN2.3 experimental validation for fuel inventory and decay heat calculations on Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). In order to validate this code system for spent fuel inventory a large program has been undertaken, based on spent fuel chemical assays. This paper deals with the experimental validation of DARWIN2.3 for the Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) Uranium Oxide (UOX) and Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel inventory calculation, focused on the isotopes involved in Burn-Up Credit (BUC) applications and decay heat computations. The calculation - experiment (C/E-1) discrepancies are calculated with the latest European evaluation file JEFF-3.1.1 associated with the SHEM energy mesh. An overview of the tendencies is obtained on a complete range of burn-up from 10 to 85 GWd/t (10 to 60 GWcVt for MOX fuel). The experimental validation of the DARWIN2.3 package for decay heat calculation is performed using calorimetric measurements carried out at the Swedish Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility for Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) assemblies, covering a large burn-up (20 to 50 GWd/t) and cooling time range (10 to 30 years). (authors)

Life cycle analysis enables to investigate environmental performance of fuel ethanol used in an E10 fueled compact passenger vehicle. Ethanol is derived from corn grain via dry milling. This type of analysis is an important component for identifying practices that will help to ensure that a renewable fuel, such as ethanol, may be produced in a sustainable manner. Based on data from eight counties in seven Corn Belt states as corn farming sites, we show ethanol derived from corn grain as E10 fuel would reduce nonrenewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions, but would increase acidification, eutrophication and photochemical smog, compared to using gasoline as liquid fuel. The ethanol fuel systems considered in this study offer economic benefits, namely more money returned to society than the investment for producing ethanol. The environmental performance of ethanol fuel system varies significantly with corn farming sites because of different crop management practices, soil properties, and climatic conditions. The dominant factor determining most environmental impacts considered here (i.e., greenhouse gas emissions, acidification, eutrophication, and photochemical smog formation) is soil related nitrogen losses (e.g., N2O, NOx, and NO3-). The sources of soil nitrogen include nitrogen fertilizer, crop residues, and air deposition. Nitrogen fertilizer is probably the primary source. Simulations using an agro-ecosystem model predict that planting winter cover crops would reduce soil nitrogen losses and increase soil organic carbon levels, thereby greatly improving the environmental performance of the ethanol fuel system.

steam in a HRSG (heat recovery steam generator). The bottoming steam cycle was modeled with two configurations: (1) a simple single pressure level and (2) a dual pressure level with both a reheat and a pre-heater. The SOFC stacks in the present SOFC-ST hybrid cycles were not pressurized. The dual...

...: I. Background On November 8, 2013 (78 FR 67225; NRC-2009-0096), the NRC published for public comment a proposed rule to amend its regulations for MC&A of SNM. Also on November 8, 2013 (78 FR 67224; NRC... Control and Accounting Regulations and Proposed Guidance for FuelCycle Facility Material Control...

Full Text Available The paper reveals expediency to use in prospect fuels with maximum value Qнр∑Vi and minimum theoretical burning temperature in order to obtain maximum efficiency of the ideal cycle in GTP with isobaric heat supply.

... Commission. ACTION: Draft NUREG; request for public comment. SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment draft NUREG-2154 ``Acceptability of Corrective Action Programs for FuelCycle Facilities.'' The draft NUREG provides guidance to the NRC staff on how to determine...

The Generation IV International Forum has identified the Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (GCFR) as one of the reactor concepts for future deployment. The GCFR targets sustainability, which is achieved by the use of a closed nuclear fuelcycle where only fission products are discharged to a repository; all H

It is essential to analysis of hydrogen isotopes in the fuelcycle system of fusion reactors,gas chromatography(GC)was found to be an effectively analytical technique.Compared with conventional GC,the high-precision GC with a cryogenic column could achieve fairly good performance to reduce the retention time.

The Generation IV International Forum has identified the Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (GCFR) as one of the reactor concepts for future deployment. The GCFR targets sustainability, which is achieved by the use of a closed nuclear fuelcycle where only fission products are discharged to a repository; all

The paper focuses on the problem of fissile materials proliferation risk estimation. Some methodological approaches to the solution of this task and results of their application for comparison of different nuclear fuelcycle strategies are discussed. The results of comparative assessment of non-proliferation aspects of plutonium utilization alternatives in Russia using system analysis approach are presented. (author)

This paper approaches the choice between the open and closed nuclear fuelcycles as a matter of intergenerational justice, by revealing the value conflicts in the production of nuclear energy. The closed fuelcycle improve sustainability in terms of the supply certainty of uranium and involves less long-term radiological risks and proliferation concerns. However, it compromises short-term public health and safety and security, due to the separation of plutonium. The trade-offs in nuclear energy are reducible to a chief trade-off between the present and the future. To what extent should we take care of our produced nuclear waste and to what extent should we accept additional risks to the present generation, in order to diminish the exposure of future generation to those risks? The advocates of the open fuelcycle should explain why they are willing to transfer all the risks for a very long period of time (200,000 years) to future generations. In addition, supporters of the closed fuelcycle should underpin their acceptance of additional risks to the present generation and make the actual reduction of risk to the future plausible.

The Generation IV International Forum has identified the Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (GCFR) as one of the reactor concepts for future deployment. The GCFR targets sustainability, which is achieved by the use of a closed nuclear fuelcycle where only fission products are discharged to a repository; all H

A hybrid plant that consists of a gasification system, Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) and a Simple Kalina Cycle (SKC) is investigated. Woodchips are introduced into a fixed bed gasification plant to produce syngas, which is then fed into an integrated SOFC-SKC plant to produce electricity. The pre......-treated fuel then enters the anode side of the SOFC. Complete fuel oxidation is ensured in a burner by off-gases exiting the SOFC stacks. Off-gases are utilized as heat source for a SKC where a mixture of ammonia and water is expanded in a turbine to produce additional electric power. Thus, a triple novel...... system based on a gasification plant, a SOFC plant and a SKC plant is presented and investigated. The system is called IGSKC (Integrated Gasification SOFC Simple Kalina Cycle). The system layout is studied, and the optimal ammonia-water mole fraction is selected. An electrical efficiency of 58...

To evaluate the environmental, economic, energy performance of biomass ethanol fuel in China and tosupport the decision-making of biomass ethanol energy policy, an assessment method of life cycle 3E (economy, en vironment, energy) was applied to the three biomass ethanol fuelcycle alternatives, which includes cassava-based, corn-based and wheat-based ethanol fuel. The assessments provide a comparison of the economical performance, energy efficiency and environmental impacts of the three alternatives. And the development potential of the three alternatives in China was examined. The results are very useful for the Chinese government to make decisions on the biomass ethanol energy policy, and some advises for the decision-making of Chinese government were given.

Previous estimates of environmental impacts associated with the front end of the nuclear fuelcycle have focused primarily on energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Results have varied widely. Section 2 of this report provides a summary of historical estimates. This study revises existing empirical correlations and their underlying assumptions to fit to a more complete set of existing data. This study also addresses land transformation, water withdrawals, and occupational and public health impacts associated with the processes of the front end of the once-through nuclear fuelcycle. These processes include uranium mining, milling, refining, conversion, enrichment, and fuel fabrication. Metrics are developed to allow environmental impacts to be summed across the full set of front end processes, including transportation and disposition of the resulting depleted uranium.

This research project compares laboratory-measured fuel economy of a medium-duty diesel powered hydraulic hybrid vehicle drivetrain to both a conventional diesel drivetrain and a conventional gasoline drivetrain in a typical commercial parcel delivery application. Vehicles in this study included a model year 2012 Freightliner P100H hybrid compared to a 2012 conventional gasoline P100 and a 2012 conventional diesel parcel delivery van of similar specifications. Drive cycle analysis of 484 days of hybrid parcel delivery van commercial operation from multiple vehicles was used to select three standard laboratory drive cycles as well as to create a custom representative cycle. These four cycles encompass and bracket the range of real world in-use data observed in Baltimore United Parcel Service operations. The NY Composite cycle, the City Suburban Heavy Vehicle Cyclecycle, and the California Air Resources Board Heavy Heavy-Duty Diesel Truck (HHDDT) cycle as well as a custom Baltimore parcel delivery cycle were tested at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Renewable Fuels and Lubricants Laboratory. Fuel consumption was measured and analyzed for all three vehicles. Vehicle laboratory results are compared on the basis of fuel economy. The hydraulic hybrid parcel delivery van demonstrated 19%-52% better fuel economy than the conventional diesel parcel delivery van and 30%-56% better fuel economy than the conventional gasoline parcel delivery van on cycles other than the highway-oriented HHDDT cycle.

Biomass ethanol fuel is not only renewable but also environmental-friendly. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is developing the cassava-based ethanol fuel. Economical performance of the project is the key issue.The traditional life cycle economical analysis is just a static calculation process. Uncertainty is the character of cassava yield, cost of cassava plant, cassava price, tax rate and gasoline price, and the economical performance of the project is determined by these aspects. This study proposes an economical model of cassava-based ethanol fuel. The method of Monte Carol is used to simulate the economical performance. This method conquers the shortage of the traditional way. The results show that cassava-based ethanol fuel can get survived when the tax is exempted. Finally, the study also evaluates the potential of the economical performance.

Treatment or processing of used nuclear fuel to recycle uranium and plutonium has historically been accomplished using the well known PUREX process. The PUREX process has been used on an industrial scale for over 60 years in the nuclear industry. Research is underway to develop advanced separation methods for the recovery of other used fuel components, such as the minor actinides (Np, Am, Cm) for possible transmutation in fast spectrum reactors, or other constituents (e.g. Cs, Sr, transition metals, lanthanides) to help facilitate effective waste management options. This paper will provide an overview of new solvent extraction processes developed for advanced nuclear fuelcycles, and summarize recent experimental results. This will include the utilization of new extractants for selective separation of target metals and new processes developed to selectively recover one or more elements from used fuel.

The host salt selection, molecular modeling, physical chemistry, and processing chemistry are presented here for an accelerator-driven subcritical fission in a molten salt core (ADSMS). The core is fueled solely with the transuranics (TRU) and long-lived fission products (LFP) from used nuclear fuel. The neutronics and salt composition are optimized to destroy the transuranics by fission and the long-lived fission products by transmutation. The cores are driven by proton beams from a strong-focusing cyclotron stack. One such ADSMS system can destroy the transuranics in the used nuclear fuel produced by a 1GWe conventional reactor. It uniquely provides a method to close the nuclear fuelcycle for green nuclear energy.

This study evaluated the environmental impact of biodiesel and hydroprocessed renewable jet fuel derived from camelina oil in terms of global warming potential, human health, ecosystem quality, and energy resource consumption. The life cycle inventory is based on production activities in the Canadian Prairies and encompasses activities ranging from agricultural production to oil extraction and fuel conversion. The system expansion method is used in this study to avoid allocation and to credit input energy to co-products associated with the products displaced in the market during camelina oil extraction and fuel processing. This is the preferred allocation method for LCA analysis in the context of most renewable and sustainable energy programs. The results show that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 1 MJ of camelina derived biodiesel ranged from 7.61 to 24.72 g CO2 equivalent and 3.06 to 31.01 kg CO2/MJ equivalent for camelina HRJ fuel. Non-renewable energy consumption for camelina biodiesel ranged from 0.40 to 0.67 MJ/MJ; HRJ fuel ranged from -0.13 to 0.52 MJ/MJ. Camelina oil as a feedstock for fuel production accounted for the highest contribution to overall environmental performance, demonstrating the importance of reducing environmental burdens during the agricultural production process. Attaining higher seed yield would dramatically lower environmental impacts associated with camelina seed, oil, and fuel production. The lower GHG emissions and energy consumption associated with camelina in comparison with other oilseed derived fuel and petroleum fuel make camelina derived fuel from Canadian Prairies environmentally attractive.

two papers to the upcoming INMM meeting that are related to the fast neutron multiplicity R&D effort. Progress was made on the project's main goal of designing a concept for a prototype fast-neutron multiplicity counter. We started laying out the outline for the final report. We have been working with our ORNL collaborators to develop a new digitizer system to support our experimental campaign planned for next year. (3) MPACT Analysis Tools - (a) Multi-isotope Process Monitor - Fuel characterization framework development continued during June. A report describing the methodologies is being completed. Kenneth Dayman, from University of Texas, spent a week at PNNL wrapping up his master's research and working on a journal submission covering that work. The target journal is the IEEE transactions on Nuclear Science; submission is planned for the end of July. A proposal to instrument H-Canyon is being prepared in conjunction with SRNL and the NNSA's NGSI program. The impact of gamma-ray spectrum counting statistics on the precision of relative radioisotope component intensities as reconstructed via Principal Component Regression (PCR) continued in June with Monte Carlo simulations of a two-component (i.e., two radioisotope) system. This work generalizes earlier studies in FY12 in which Poisson counting variations of only a single spectrum component were simulated. (b) Modeling and Simulation for Analysis of Safeguards Performance (Electrochemical) - Preliminary insights into safeguards challenges and the initial design for an electrochemical plant have been written up into an INMM paper and will be presented at the INMM Summer Meeting. Work is currently adding a new visualization capability for integrating materials accountancy with physical protection. (c) Material Control including Process Monitoring (Pattern Recognition, Sensors) - Fabrication of quartz chips continued at an external foundry. Awaiting delivery of the heat exchange manifold and chip

This Final Report summarizes the work on the life cycle cost (LCC) analysis of conventional and fuel cell/battery powered urban passenger vehicles. The purpose of the work is to support the Division in making sound economic comparisons between conventional and fuel cell/battery powered buses, passenger vans, and cars for strategic analysis of programmatic R&D goals. The LCC analysis can indicate whether paying a relatively high initial capital cost for advanced technology with low operating and/or environmental costs is advantageous over paying a lower initial cost for conventional technology with higher operating and/or environmental costs. While minimizing life cycle cost is an important consideration, it does not always result in technology penetration in the marketplace. The LCC analysis model developed under this contract facilitates consideration of all perspectives. Over 100 studies have been acquired and analyzed for their applicability. Drawing on prior work by JPL and Los Alamos National Laboratory as primary sources, specific analytical relationships and cost/performance data relevant to fuel cell/battery and intemal combustion engine (ICE) powered vehicles were selected for development of an LCC analysis model. The completed LCC model is structured around twelve integrated modules. Comparative analysis is made between conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles and fuel cell/battery vehicles using either phosphoric acid fuel cells or proton-exchange membrane fuel cells. In all, seven base vehicle configuration cases with a total of 21 vehicle class/powertrain/fuel combinations are analyzed. The LCC model represents a significant advance in comparative economic analysis of conventional and fuel cell/battery powered vehicle technologies embodying several unique features which were not included in prior models.

A micro heterogeneous approaches were used to study the behavior of reprocessed fuel spiked with thorium in a PWR fuel element considering (TRU-Th) cycle. The goal is to achieve a higher burnup using three different configurations to model the fuel element using SCALE 6.0. The reprocessed fuels were obtained using the ORIGEN 2.1 code from a spent PWR standard fuel (33,000 MWd/tHM burned), with 3.1% of initial enrichment. The spent fuel remained in the cooling pool for five years and then reprocessed using the UREX+ technique. Three configurations of micro heterogeneous approaches were analyzed, and the k{sub inf} and plutonium evolution during the burnup were evaluated. The preliminary results show that the behavior of advanced fuel based on transuranic elements spiked with thorium, and micro heterogeneous approach are satisfactory in PWRs, and the configuration that use a combination of Th and TRU (configuration 1) seems to be the most promising once has higher values for k{sub inf} during the burnup, compared with other configurations. (author)

Two computer programs have been written to provide information on the buildup of minor uranium isotopes in the nuclear fuelcycle. The Minor Uranium Isotope Cycle Program, MUICYCL, tracks fuel through a multiyear campaign cycle of enrichment, reactor burnup, reprocessing, enrichment, etc. MUICYCL facilities include preproduction stockpiles, U/sup 235/ escalation, and calculation of losses. The Minor Uranium Isotope Flowsheet Analyzer Program, MUIFAP, analyzes one minor isotope in one year of an enrichment operation. The formulation of the enrichment cascade, reactors, and reprocessing facility is presented. Input and output descriptions and sample cases are presented. The programs themselves are documented by short descriptions of each routine, flowcharts, definitions of common blocks and variables, and internal documentation. The programs are written in FORTRAN for use in batch mode.

Under typical PEM fuel cell operating conditions, part of membrane electrode assembly is subjected to humidity cycling due to variation of inlet gas RH and/or flow rate. Cyclic membrane hydration/dehydration would cause cyclic swelling/shrinking of the unconstrained membrane. In a constrained membrane, it causes cyclic stress resulting in mechanical failure in the area adjacent to the gas inlet. A mathematical modeling framework for prediction of the lifetime of a PEM FC membrane subjected to hydration cycling is developed in this paper. The model predicts membrane lifetime as a function of RH cycling amplitude and membrane mechanical properties. The modeling framework consists of three model components: a fuel cell RH distribution model, a hydration/dehydration induced stress model that predicts stress distribution in the membrane, and a damage accrual model that predicts membrane life-time. Short descriptions of the model components along with overall framework are presented in the paper. The model was used...

The global carbon cycle is the dynamic interaction among the earth's carbon sources and sinks. Four reservoirs can be identified, including the atmosphere, terrestrial biosphere, oceans, and sediments. Atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentration is determined by characteristics of carbon fluxes among major reservoirs of the global carbon cycle. The objective of this paper is to document the knowns, and unknowns and uncertainties associated with key questions that if answered will increase the understanding of the portion of past, present, and future atmospheric CO{sub 2} attributable to fossil fuel burning. Documented atmospheric increases in CO{sub 2} levels are thought to result primarily from fossil fuel use and, perhaps, deforestation. However, the observed atmospheric CO{sub 2} increase is less than expected from current understanding of the global carbon cycle because of poorly understood interactions among the major carbon reservoirs. 87 refs.

The global carbon cycle is the dynamic interaction among the earth's carbon sources and sinks. Four reservoirs can be identified, including the atmosphere, terrestrial biosphere, oceans, and sediments. Atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentration is determined by characteristics of carbon fluxes among major reservoirs of the global carbon cycle. The objective of this paper is to document the knowns, and unknowns and uncertainties associated with key questions that if answered will increase the understanding of the portion of past, present, and future atmospheric CO{sub 2} attributable to fossil fuel burning. Documented atmospheric increases in CO{sub 2} levels are thought to result primarily from fossil fuel use and, perhaps, deforestation. However, the observed atmospheric CO{sub 2} increase is less than expected from current understanding of the global carbon cycle because of poorly understood interactions among the major carbon reservoirs.

Combined power generation systems with combinations of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and various enhanced gas turbine (GT) cycles were evaluated. In the GT part, steam injected gas turbine (STIG) cycle, GT/steam turbine (ST) combined cycle, and humid air turbine (HAT) cycle were considered. Moreover, additional recuperation was considered by means of air preheating (APH) in the STIG cycle. Effects of operating turbine inlet temperature (TIT) and pressure ratio (PR) on overall system performance were assessed. Although the SOFC-HAT system shows the lowest specific work output compared to other systems, its highest thermal efficiency presents a significant advantage. Furthermore, at high TITs and PRs the SOFC-HAT system gives the best performance in terms of both thermal efficiency and specific work. Results indicate that energy recuperative features in the HAT promote the positive effect of increasing TIT by means of enhancing GT efficiency, leading to the improvement in thermal efficiency of the overall system.

The objective of this paper is to facilitate a better understanding of the fuel-cycle and nuclear material disposition issues associated with high-temperature gas reactors (HTGRs). This paper reviews the nuclear fuelcycles supporting early and present day gas reactors, and identifies challenges for the advanced fuelcycles and waste management systems supporting the next generation of HTGRs, including the Very High Temperature Reactor, which is under development in the Generation IV Program. The earliest gas-cooled reactors were the carbon dioxide (CO2)-cooled reactors. Historical experience is available from over 1,000 reactor-years of operation from 52 electricity-generating, CO2-cooled reactor plants that were placed in operation worldwide. Following the CO2 reactor development, seven HTGR plants were built and operated. The HTGR came about from the combination of helium coolant and graphite moderator. Helium was used instead of air or CO2 as the coolant. The helium gas has a significant technical base due to the experience gained in the United States from the 40-MWe Peach Bottom and 330-MWe Fort St. Vrain reactors designed by General Atomics. Germany also built and operated the 15-MWe Arbeitsgemeinschaft Versuchsreaktor (AVR) and the 300-MWe Thorium High-Temperature Reactor (THTR) power plants. The AVR, THTR, Peach Bottom and Fort St. Vrain all used fuel containing thorium in various forms (i.e., carbides, oxides, thorium particles) and mixtures with highly enriched uranium. The operational experience gained from these early gas reactors can be applied to the next generation of nuclear power systems. HTGR systems are being developed in South Africa, China, Japan, the United States, and Russia. Elements of the HTGR system evaluated included fuel demands on uranium ore mining and milling, conversion, enrichment services, and fuel fabrication; fuel management in-core; spent fuel characteristics affecting fuel recycling and refabrication, fuel handling, interim

Disposal versus reprocessing costs for used CANDU fuel was recently discussed by Rozon and Lister in a report produced for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO). Their study discussed the economic incentives for reprocessing, not for the recovery of fissile uranium but for the recovery of plutonium ash. A $370/kg break-even price of uranium was calculated, and their model was found to be very sensitive to the reprocessing costs of the chosen technology. Findings were consistent with earlier studies done by Harvard University. Various reprocessing technologies (most based on solvent extraction) have been in use for many decades, but there appears to be no conceptual engineering study available in the open literature for a spent fuel reprocessing facility - one that includes process flows, operating costs and economic analysis. A deeper engineering study of the design and economics of re-processing technologies has since been undertaken by the nuclear group at the University of New Brunswick. An improved fluorination process was developed and modeled using ASPEN process simulation software. This study examines the impact of chosen technology on the spent fuel re-processing costs. (author)

V.S.O.P. is a computer code system for the comprehensive numerical simulation of the physics of thermal reactors. It implies the setup of the reactor and of the fuel element, processing of cross sections, neutron spectrum evaluation, neutron diffusion calculation in two or three dimensions, fuel burnup, fuel shuffling, reactor control, thermal hydraulics and fuelcycle costs. The thermal hydraulics part (steady state and time-dependent) is restricted to HTRs and to two spatial dimensions. The...

V.S.O.P. (97) is a computer code system for the comprehensive numerical simulation ofthe physics of thermal reactors. It implies processing ofcross sections, the setup ofthe reactor and ofthe fuel element, repeated neutron spectrum evaluation, neutron diffusion calculation in two or three dimensions, fuel burnup, fuel shuffling, reactor control, thermal hydraulics and fuelcycle costs. The thermal hydraulics part (steady state and time-dependent) is restricted to EM and to two spatial dimensi...

Sodium cooled Fast Reactors (SFR) have been under consideration for production of electricity, fissile material production, and for destruction of transuranics for decades. The neutron economy of a SFR can be operated in one of two ways. One possibility is to operate the reactor in a transuranic burner mode which has been the focus of active R&D in the last 15 years. However, prior to that the focus was on breeding transuranics. This later mode of managing the neutron economy relies on ensuring the maximum fuel utilization possible in such a way as to maximize the amount of plutonium produced per unit of fission energy in the reactor core. The goal of maximizing plutonium production in this study is as fissile feed stock for the production of MOX fuel to be used in Light Water Reactors (LWR). Throughout the l970’s, this fuelcycle scenario was the focus of much research by the Atomic Energy Commission in the event that uranium supplies would be scarce. To date, there has been sufficient uranium to supply the once through nuclear fuelcycle. However, interest in a synergistic relationship Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactors (LMFBR) and a consumer LWR fleet persists, prompting this study. This study considered LMFBR concepts with varying additions of axial and radial reflectors. Three scenarios were considered in collaboration with a companion study on the LWR-MOX designs based on plutonium nuclide vectors produced by this study. The first scenario is a LMFBR providing fissile material to make MOX fuel where the MOX part of the fuelcycle is operated in a once-through-then-out mode. The second scenario is the same as the first but with the MOX part of the fuelcycle multi-recycling its own plutonium with LMFBR being used for the make-up feed. In these first two scenarios, plutonium partitioning from the minor actinides (MA) was assumed. Also, the plutonium management strategy of the LMFBR ensured that only the high fissile purity plutonium bred from blankets was

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has initiated the FuelCycle Risk Assessment Program to provide risk assessment methods for assistance in the regulatory process for nuclear fuelcycle facilities other than reactors. Both the once-through cycle and plutonium recycle are being considered. A previous report generated by this program defines and describes fuelcycle facilities, or elements, considered in the program. This report, the second from the program, describes the survey and computer compilation of fuelcycle risk-related literature. Sources of available information on the design, safety, and risk associated with the defined set of fuelcycle elements were searched and documents obtained were catalogued and characterized with respect to fuelcycle elements and specific risk/safety information. Both US and foreign surveys were conducted. Battelle's computer-based BASIS information management system was used to facilitate the establishment of the literature compilation. A complete listing of the literature compilation and several useful indexes are included. Future updates of the literature compilation will be published periodically. 760 annotated citations are included.

Full Text Available Computer simulations have been carried out to investigate the possibility of extending operating cycle length in the Pressurised Water Reactor Ringhals 3 by the use of thorium-plutonium oxide fuel. The calculations have been carried out using tools and methods that are normally employed for reload design and safety evaluation in Ringhals 3. The 3-batch reload scheme and the power level have been kept unchanged, and a normal uranium oxide fuel assembly designed for a 12-month operating cycle in this reactor is used as a reference. The use of plutonium as the fissile component reduces the worth of control rods and soluble boron, which makes it necessary to modify the control systems. The delayed neutron fraction is low compared with the reference, but simulations and qualitative assessments of relevant transients indicate that the reactor could still be operated safely. Differences in reactivity coefficients are mainly beneficial for the outcome of transient simulations for the thorium based fuel. A 50% extension of the current 12-month operating cycle length should be possible with thorium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel, given an upgrade of the control systems. More detailed simulations have to be carried out for some transients in order to confirm the qualitative reasoning presented.

In the program on pyrochemical and dry processing methods (PDPM) for nuclear fuel, tungsten crucibles were successfully spun for use in laboratory-scale experiments. Corrosion testing of refractory metals and alloys in PDPM environments was done. Ceramic substrates were successfully coated with tungsten. Solubility measurements were made to determine Cd/Mg alloy composition and temperature at which dissolved Th will precipitate. Experiments were started to study the reduction of high-fired ThO/sub 2/ with Ca in a molten metal-molten salt system. Work on the fused salt electrolysis of CaO was started. Equipment for determining phase diagrams for U-Cu-Mg system was set up. The reaction of UO/sub 2/ with molten equimolar NaNO/sub 3/-KNO/sub 3/ was studied as part of a project to identify chemically feasible nonaqueous fuel reprocessing methods. Work was continued on development of a flowsheet for reprocessing actinide oxides by extracting actinides into ammonium chloro-aluminate (and alternative salts) from a bismuth solution. Preparation of Th, U, and Pu nitrides after dissolution of spent fuel elements in molten tin is being studied. Leach rates of glass beads, pulverized beads, and beads encapsulated in a lead matrix with no protective envelope were studied. A method (employing no pressure or vacuum systems) of encapsulating various solid wastes in a lead metal matrix was developed and tested. A preliminary integration was made of earlier data on effects of impacts on metal-matrix waste forms.Leach migration experiments were compared with conventional infiltration experiments as methods of evaluating geologic formations as barriers to nuclide migration. The effect of the streaming potential on the rates of transport of radioactive I/sup -/ and Na/sup +/ through kaolinite columns was measured, as well as adsorption of iodide and iodate by several compounds; implications of the results upon the disposal of radioactive iodine are discussed.

REBUS-3 is a system of programs designed for the fuel-cycle analysis of fast reactors. This new capability is an extension and refinement of the REBUS-3 code system and complies with the standard code practices and interface dataset specifications of the Committee on Computer Code Coordination (CCCC). The new code is hence divorced from the earlier ARC System. In addition, the coding has been designed to enhance code exportability. Major new capabilities not available in the REBUS-2 code system include a search on burn cycle time to achieve a specified value for the multiplication constant at the end of the burn step; a general non-repetitive fuel-management capability including temporary out-of-core fuel storage, loading of fresh fuel, and subsequent retrieval and reloading of fuel; significantly expanded user input checking; expanded output edits; provision of prestored burnup chains to simplify user input; option of fixed-or free-field BCD input formats; and, choice of finite difference, nodal or spatial flux-synthesis neutronics in one-, two-, or three-dimensions.

Uranium (U), cobalt (Co), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), thorium (Th) and zinc (Zn) occur naturally in soil but their radioactive isotopes can also be released into the environment during the nuclear fuelcycle. The transfer of these elements was studied in three different trophic levels in experimental mesocosms containing downy birch (Betula pubescens), narrow buckler fern (Dryopteris carthusiana) and Scandinavian small-reed (Calamagrostis purpurea ssp. Phragmitoides) as producers, snails (Arianta arbostorum) as herbivores, and earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris) as decomposers. To determine more precisely whether the element uptake of snails is mainly via their food (birch leaves) or both via soil and food, a separate microcosm experiment was also performed. The element uptake of snails did not generally depend on the presence of soil, indicating that the main uptake route was food, except for U, where soil contact was important for uptake when soil U concentration was high. Transfer of elements from soil to plants was not linear, i.e. it was not correctly described by constant concentration ratios (CR) commonly applied in radioecological modeling. Similar nonlinear transfer was found for the invertebrate animals included in this study: elements other than U were taken up more efficiently when element concentration in soil or food was low.

This project made substantial progress on its original aim for providing a modern user experience for nuclear fuelcycle analysis while also creating a robust and functional next- generation fuelcycle simulator. The Cyclus kernel experienced a dramatic clari cation of its interfaces and data model, becoming a full- edged agent-based framework, with strong support for third party developers of novel archetypes. The most important contribution of this project to the the development of Cyclus was the introduction of tools to facilitate archetype development. These include automated code generation of routine archetype components, metadata annotations to provide re ection and rich description of each data member's purpose, and mechanisms for input validation and output of complex data. A comprehensive social science investigation of decision makers' interests in nuclear fuelcycles, and speci cally their interests in nuclear fuelcycle simulators (NFCSs) as tools for understanding nuclear fuelcycle options, was conducted. This included document review and analysis, stakeholder interviews, and a survey of decision makers. This information was used to study the role of visualization formats and features in communicating information about nuclear fuelcycles. A exible and user-friendly tool was developed for building Cyclus analysis models, featuring a drag-and-drop interface and automatic input form generation for novel archetypes. Cycic allows users to design fuelcycles from arbitrary collections of facilities for the rst time, with mechanisms that contribute to consistency within that fuelcycle. Interacting with some of the metadata capabilities introduced in the above-mentioned tools to support archetype development, Cycic also automates the generation of user input forms for novel archetypes with little to no special knowledge required by the archetype developers. Translation of the fundamental metrics of Cyclus into more interesting quantities is

In this work the transition from the existing Light Water Reactors (LWR) to the advanced reactors is analyzed, including Generation III+ reactors in a European framework. Four European fuelcycle scenarios involving transmutation options have been addressed. The first scenario (i.e., reference) is the current fleet using LWR technology and open fuelcycle. The second scenario assumes a full replacement of the initial fleet with Fast Reactors (FR) burning U-Pu MOX fuel. The third scenario is a modification of the second one introducing Minor Actinide (MA) transmutation in a fraction of the FR fleet. Finally, in the fourth scenario, the LWR fleet is replaced using FR with MOX fuel as well as Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS) for MA transmutation. All scenarios consider an intermediate period of GEN-III+ LWR deployment and they extend for a period of 200 years looking for equilibrium mass flows. The simulations were made using the TR-EVOL code, a tool for fuelcycle studies developed by CIEMAT. The results reveal that all scenarios are feasible according to nuclear resources demand (U and Pu). Concerning to no transmutation cases, the second scenario reduces considerably the Pu inventory in repositories compared to the reference scenario, although the MA inventory increases. The transmutation scenarios show that elimination of the LWR MA legacy requires on one hand a maximum of 33% fraction (i.e., a peak value of 26 FR units) of the FR fleet dedicated to transmutation (MA in MOX fuel, homogeneous transmutation). On the other hand a maximum number of ADS plants accounting for 5% of electricity generation are predicted in the fourth scenario (i.e., 35 ADS units). Regarding the economic analysis, the estimations show an increase of LCOE (Levelized cost of electricity) - averaged over the whole period - with respect to the reference scenario of 21% and 29% for FR and FR with transmutation scenarios respectively, and 34% for the fourth scenario. (authors)

The production of all forms of energy consumes water. To meet increased energy demands, it is essential to quantify the amount of water consumed in the production of different forms of energy. By analyzing the water consumed in different technologies, it is possible to identify areas for improvement in water conservation and reduce water stress in energy-producing regions. The transportation sector is a major consumer of energy in the United States. Because of the relationships between water and energy, the sustainability of transportation is tied to management of water resources. Assessment of water consumption throughout the life cycle of a fuel is necessary to understand its water resource implications. To perform a comparative life cycle assessment of transportation fuels, it is necessary first to develop an inventory of the water consumed in each process in each production supply chain. The Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model is an analytical tool that can used to estimate the full life-cycle environmental impacts of various transportation fuel pathways from wells to wheels. GREET is currently being expanded to include water consumption as a sustainability metric. The purpose of this report was to document data sources and methodologies to estimate water consumption factors (WCF) for the various transportation fuel pathways in GREET. WCFs reflect the quantity of freshwater directly consumed per unit production for various production processes in GREET. These factors do not include consumption of precipitation or low-quality water (e.g., seawater) and reflect only water that is consumed (i.e., not returned to the source from which it was withdrawn). The data in the report can be combined with GREET to compare the life cycle water consumption for different transportation fuels.

Many challenges arrive today for the french research and development on the fuelcycle: promote the industrial technologies, improve the world increase of the nuclear and adapt the fuelcycle technologies to the future reactors. In this framework the report presents after a recall on the fuelcycle, the researches on the fuel, the optimization of the recycling, the wastes management, the simulation and Phenix an experimentation tool for the fuel. (A.L.B.)

This reports examines the feasibility of converting the existing Wabash Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant into a liquid fuel facility, with the goal of maximizing jet fuel production. The fuels produced are required to be in compliance with Section 526 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007 §526) lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions requirements, so lifecycle GHG emissions from the fuel must be equal to or better than conventional fuels. Retrofitting an existing gasification facility reduces the technical risk and capital costs associated with a coal to liquids project, leading to a higher probability of implementation and more competitive liquid fuel prices. The existing combustion turbine will continue to operate on low cost natural gas and low carbon fuel gas from the gasification facility. The gasification technology utilized at Wabash is the E-Gas™ Technology and has been in commercial operation since 1995. In order to minimize capital costs, the study maximizes reuse of existing equipment with minimal modifications. Plant data and process models were used to develop process data for downstream units. Process modeling was utilized for the syngas conditioning, acid gas removal, CO2 compression and utility units. Syngas conversion to Fischer Tropsch (FT) liquids and upgrading of the liquids was modeled and designed by Johnson Matthey Davy Technologies (JM Davy). In order to maintain the GHG emission profile below that of conventional fuels, the CO2 from the process must be captured and exported for sequestration or enhanced oil recovery. In addition the power utilized for the plant’s auxiliary loads had to be supplied by a low carbon fuel source. Since the process produces a fuel gas with sufficient energy content to power the plant’s loads, this fuel gas was converted to hydrogen and exported to the existing gas turbine for low carbon power production. Utilizing low carbon fuel gas and

-isotope Process Monitor PNNL - Attended a training call in advanced multivariate classification and analysis methods. These methods were applied to the multivariate analysis of fuel characteristics based on simulated gamma. Work continued on a computational framework to quantify the impact of gamma-ray counting statistical precision on principal component regression (PCR) analysis of a multi-component (i.e. multi-isotope) gammaray spectrum. Tests of the simulation framework are anticipated to begin in early June. Development of a proposal to instrument H-Canyon is being prepared in conjunction with SRNL and the NNSA's NGSI program is ongoing.

The objective of this research is to evaluate differences in fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions of flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) operated on ethanol 85 (E85) versus gasoline. Theoretical ratios of fuel consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for both fuels are estimated based on the same amount of energy released. Second-by-second fuel consumption and emissions from one FFV Ford Focus fueled with E85 and gasoline were measured under real-world traffic conditions in Lisbon, Portugal, using a portable emissions measurement system (PEMS). Cycle average dynamometer fuel consumption and emission test results for FFVs are available from the U.S. Department of Energy, and emissions certification test results for ethanol-fueled vehicles are available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. On the basis of the PEMS data, vehicle-specific power (VSP)-based modal average fuel and emission rates for both fuels are estimated. For E85 versus gasoline, empirical ratios of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions agree within a margin of error to the theoretical expectations. Carbon monoxide (CO) emissions were found to be typically lower. From the PEMS data, nitric oxide (NO) emissions associated with some higher VSP modes are higher for E85. From the dynamometer and certification data, average hydrocarbon (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission differences vary depending on the vehicle. The differences of average E85 versus gasoline emission rates for all vehicle models are -22% for CO, 12% for HC, and -8% for NOx emissions, which imply that replacing gasoline with E85 reduces CO emissions, may moderately decrease NOx tailpipe emissions, and may increase HC tailpipe emissions. On a fuel life cycle basis for corn-based ethanol versus gasoline, CO emissions are estimated to decrease by 18%. Life-cycle total and fossil CO2 emissions are estimated to decrease by 25 and 50%, respectively; however, life-cycle HC and NOx emissions are estimated to increase by 18 and 82

Denatured (proliferation resistant) reactor plutonium can be generated in a number of different fuelcycle options. First denatured reactor plutonium can be obtained if, instead of low enriched U-235 PWR fuel, re-enriched U-235/U-236 from reprocessed uranium is used (fuel type A). Also the envisaged existing 2,500 t of reactor plutonium (being generated world wide up to the year 2010), mostly stored in intermediate fuel storage facilities at present, could be converted during a transition phase into denatured reactor plutonium by the options fuel type B and D. Denatured reactor plutonium could have the same safeguards standard as present low enriched (<20% U-235) LWR fuel. It could be incinerated by recycling once or twice in PWRs and subsequently by multi-recycling in FRs (CAPRA type or IFRs). Once denatured, such reactor plutonium could remain denatured during multiple recycling. In a PWR, e.g., denatured reactor plutonium could be destroyed at a rate of about 250 kg/GWey. While denatured reactor plutonium could be recycled and incinerated under relieved IAEA safeguards, neptunium would still have to be monitored by the IAEA in future for all cases in which considerable amounts of neptunium are produced. (orig.)

Camelina sativa (Camelina) could be a potential feedstock to help meet the goal of 36 billion gallons of biofuel production in the United States by 2022, as set forth by EISA of 2007. This research is focused on assessing the energy balance and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from camelina biodiesel grown and produced in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) region of the USA. Data were collected from a camelina farm in the region and compared to literature values. Energy used in camelina crushing and transesterification were measured at the University of Idaho. Life cycle analysis showed that use of camelina biodiesel reduces GHG emissions by 72% compared to 2005 baseline diesel fuel. Camelina biodiesel at B100 level, however, did not meet the ASTM D6751 specification for oxidative stability without any additives but could be corrected with proper additive. Camelina had a smaller seed size compared to canola and consequently required 23% more energy for crushing. Despite higher energy use for crushing, the net energy ratio for camelina biodiesel was found to be 3.68. From the agronomic standpoint, camelina can be incorporated as a rotational crop into low rainfall areas of the PNW. Wheat areas of PNW with annual rainfall from 19 to 38 cm (7.5--15") and currently incorporating fallow into their rotations were considered as potential areas for camelina. There were 846,500 hectares (2.1 million acres) of land available in the region that could potentially produce 443.0 million L of biodiesel (117.1 million gal) and 1.2 billion kg of meal per year. This meal quantity is about 12.1% of the potential camelina meal that could be used as livestock feed in the PNW. Therefore, it was concluded that the meal has adequate market to be consumed locally as livestock feed. This research also conducted the life cycle analysis of camelina jet fuel produced in the laboratory scale facility. The jet fuel was produced via deoxygenation of the camelina oil in an inert environment, in the

A combined system containing solid oxide fuel cell-gas turbine power plant, Rankine steam cycle and ammonia-water absorption refrigeration system is introduced and analyzed. In this process, power, heat and cooling are produced. Energy and exergy analyses along with the economic factors are used to distinguish optimum operating point of the system. The developed electrochemical model of the fuel cell is validated with experimental results. Thermodynamic package and main parameters of the absorption refrigeration system are validated. The power output of the system is 500 kW. An optimization problem is defined in order to finding the optimal operating point. Decision variables are current density, temperature of the exhaust gases from the boiler, steam turbine pressure (high and medium), generator temperature and consumed cooling water. Results indicate that electrical efficiency of the combined system is 62.4% (LHV). Produced refrigeration (at -10 °C) and heat recovery are 101 kW and 22.1 kW respectively. Investment cost for the combined system (without absorption cycle) is about 2917 kW-1.

The use of TRISO-particle-based dispersion fuel within SiC matrix and cladding materials has the potential to allow the design of extremely safe LWRs with failure-proof fuel. This paper examines the feasibility of LWR-like cycle length for such a low enriched uranium fuel with the imposed constraint of strictly retaining the original geometry of the fuel pins and assemblies. The motivation for retaining the original geometry is to provide the ability to incorporate the fuel 'as-is' into existing LWRs while retaining their thermal-hydraulic characteristics. The feasibility of using this fuel is assessed by looking at cycle lengths and fuel failure rates. Other considerations (e.g., safety parameters, etc.) were not considered at this stage of the study. The study includes the examination of different TRISO kernel diameters without changing the coating layer thicknesses. The study shows that a naive use of UO{sub 2} results in cycle lengths too short to be practical for existing LWR designs and operational demands. Increasing fissile inventory within the fuel compacts shows that acceptable cycle lengths can be achieved. In this study, starting with the recognized highest packing fraction practically achievable (44%), higher enrichment, larger fuel kernel sizes, and the use of higher density fuels have been evaluated. The models demonstrate cycle lengths comparable to those of ordinary LWRs. As expected, TRISO particles with extremely large kernels are shown to fail under all considered scenarios. In contrast, the designs that do not depart too drastically from those of the nominal NGNP HTR fuel TRISO particles are shown to perform satisfactorily and display a high rates of survival under all considered scenarios. Finally, it is recognized that relaxing the geometry constraint will result in satisfactory cycle lengths even using UO{sub 2}-loaded TRISO particles-based fuel with enrichment at or below 20 w/o.